Australia’s record 242-run thrashing by England was no surprise given the insanely-inexperienced bowling unit that its selectors picked for this ODI series.
The Australian selectors made the extraordinary decision of choosing for this series a six-man bowling unit which had played an average of just six ODIs each.
Australia had no choice but to play without their injured pace guns Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. But that didn’t mean they had to pick a bowling unit which was so incredibly green.
The reality is that Australia’s seven best 50-over quicks are not involved in this series – Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Jason Behrendorff and Chris Tremain.
Mitchell Starc (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
The likes of Kane Richardson and Michael Neser are not even in the top ten one day bowlers in Australia, while 21-year-old Jhye Richardson and 23-year-old Billy Stanlake are greatly talented but raw.
Richardson and Stanlake have only played ten and five one-day matches for their states, respectively – they are utter rookies.
Having two such inexperienced bowlers in the same ODI attack is crazy. But it is pure lunacy to open the bowling with that same pair, away from home on the world’s highest-scoring ODI pitch against the most powerful batting line-up going around. That was a recipe for catastrophe.
Trent Bridge has become a famously batting-friendly ground, where ODI bowling attacks have been butchered repeatedly in recent years.
In the previous ODI match at the ground England broke the world record by piling up 444 against a full-strength Pakistan attack.
That Pakistan attack included Mohammad Amir, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz and Hasan Ali yet it was powerless to halt England on the mega-road pitch at Trent Bridge.
It was a similar story two matches before that when an experienced New Zealand attack gave up 3-350 from 44 overs. England probably would have made 430-plus had they been able to complete their full 50 overs in that match, but they had already won.
So, if England piled up monstrous totals against Pakistan and New Zealand on this same flat deck, is it any wonder they annihilated an Australian attack vastly less experienced and accomplished than those Kiwi and Pakistani units?
No, it’s not. The writing was on the wall from the moment Australia’s wonky squad was announced, as I wrote in this piece for The Roar six weeks ago.
As I noted at the time, the bowling unit Australia picked was eerily similar in its lack of experience and achievements to the dire attack they selected for the doomed 2016 ODI tour of South Africa, where they lost 5-0.
Before that series in SA I argued that it was Australia’s worst-ever ODI attack.
That turned out to be correct. Daniel Worrall, Scott Boland and Joe Mennie – all bizarre selections – were duly scorched by the SA batsmen, with only Tremain putting up resistance.
The lack of respect for that series shown by the selectors came back to haunt them as Australia suffered their first-ever 5-0 ODI whitewash.
The selectors’ negligence helped send the once-mighty Australian ODI team into a steep downward spiral.
Since the start of that farcical series in SA, Australia have won just nine of their last 31 ODIs. To put that in context, Australia won a whopping 23 of their previous 31 ODIs prior to that series in SA.
That series, and the incompetence of the selectors, was a tipping point for the Australian ODI team. The selectors toyed with the side and it’s since fallen apart.
You would think the selectors would have learned from the folly of picking a green crew of bowlers for that series in SA but, no, they did not.
They repeated the same mistake here in England. Australia’s current ODI attack has no leader, no cricketer with sufficient experience in big international matches to guide the team’s bowling rookies.
This is why it’s so strange that Australia did not pick left arm quick James Faulkner, a man with 132 wickets for Australia in limited overs internationals.
Faulkner will be playing in England very soon – but not for Australia, instead for Lancashire in the T20 Blast. The 27-year-old Tasmanian has recovered from a knee injury he suffered last summer and is raring to go for Lancashire, according to a recent interview.
Faulkner has been ignored by the Australian selectors for almost a year now, despite having taken 28 wickets at an average of 26 from his last 15 ODIs.
What’s more is that Faulkner has a brilliant ODI record against England, averaging 24 with the ball and 45 with the bat from his 13 ODIs against them.
Beyond the generous experience he could have added to this current Australian attack, he also would have provided much-needed variety with his left-arm angle, and boosted Australia’s tail-end batting.
Faulkner was also omitted from the series in SA which prompted Australia’s descent into the ODI basement. Would Faulkner have helped Australia win this current series, or prevent England from scoring 400-plus on Tuesday?
No, he would not. But he would have at least given Australia some attributes they have sorely lacked and taken some of the responsibility off the shoulders of rookies like Richardson and Stanlake.
The Australian selectors, either through arrogance or ineptitude or both, have ridden the ODI team into the dirt.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
How about you mention the selection of the batting as well Ronan? Short & Carey better options than Khawaja & Cameron White? Give it a rest....
Akkara
Roar Rookie
The Australian ODI team is like a local under 10 club team where the focus is to participation. It seems the focus is to ensure everyone participates! There is not one person in the team that is a definite selection. No one has a clue who will be selected until the team is announced. England on the other hand have a consistent team of 10 definite selections, and the focus is to win.
Eddie Otto
Roar Guru
There must be more to it with Faulkner? He was sparsely used by the Stars last season in situations you would expect him to be trusted with/ Obviously he has had a couple of incidents off the field. It seems they have put a red pen through his name. I'm not convinced his bowling wouldn't have gone the journey over there like others however the side is clearly missing some experience.
Akkara
Roar Rookie
I think Langer is wanting to set his own mark by focusing on a young. He was forced to fall back on the experienced batsman in the 4th ODI. He doesn't have any options with the bowling.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
James Pattinson is not short format material. Can't see how the selectors are to blame. Apart from James Faulkner whose recent record for Aus in ODIs is bust, who else is there to pick? There is nothitng wrong with throwing inexperienced players into the cauldron. They'll learn plenty from this.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
The TMS commentators said that it was obvious that he was trying his variations but everything was going to the boundary anyway. England have been blazing away for a few years now to good effect, who is to say that this would not have happened even with the first pick attack? They beat the Aussies at home after all.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Marsh is the only one who has looked like he's playing in the same series as England. I didn't expect that I have to say.
Bucks
Guest
Next ODI series looks as though it will be the 3 match series vs RSA at home??
Bucks
Guest
ODI side for the next series should be; 1.Finch - our best opener, maybe even our best bat 2.Lynn - role is to make 100 by himself by the 15th over 3.S Marsh - only bat to stand up on current tour, plays Joe Root role 4.Carey (wk) - naturally busy cricketer like Mike Hussey. Keeps his SR around 100 and accelerates 5.Maxwell / Head - Maxwell if he can play like he did in 1st ODI (made 62), batting normally then accelerating 6.Stoinis - most consistent keeps his place, will find boundaries 7.Agar - can handle batting 7, as long as he has players below him that can bat. In this team he does 8.Cummins 9.Starc 10.Coulter-Nile 11.Hazlewood Last 4 pick themselves, 8-10 can bat. Bench - Head / Maxwell, M Marsh, J Richardson, Swepson - very handy bowler in limited overs and my choice to be second spinner if required.
Perry Bridge
Guest
How many chances for Khawaja? Well......you gotta produce something. I'm not saying I'm convinced by Head - but Khawaja stank it up in South Africa and only saved face via a big knock in the final Ashes test. His ODI form doesn't provide a compelling case. The only reason I would've thought to include him was that Warner and Smith weren't there. However - the benefit of this meaningless 5 game series is to throw in guys for the experience. So - don't take Khawaja being overlooked as too big a deal. The selectors have often picked a bit of a speculative ODI squad rather than purely basing it on earned merit.
Perry Bridge
Guest
#Justsaying re Finch from 2 Jun 2017 to now (that takes us back 12 months and a couple of weeks to include the 3 games Finch played in England last June) in England, 8, 19 and 68 as opener. In India, where he got left out initially – 124, 94 and 32 as opener In Aust, 107, 106 and 62 as, you guessed it – opener. So – in the 12 months prior leading into this series we have a guy with 620 runs from 9 knocks at avg of over 68, with 3 centuries, a 90 and 2 60s. All as ..... an opener. And we decide after a first match 19 to push him down to #5 in the order – – – in a team missing Smith and Warner. How the heck was that ever a good idea. Finch now has 739 from 11 hits as opener since June 2 2017 with 4 centuries, a 90 and 2 60s. Can we just accept that he is first selected and bats where he wants!!!! (so long as that is as an opener). I just don't see how - when something isn't broken (Finch as an opener) that the selectors thought moving him out of that slot was at all a good idea. Who does that??? And Khawaja...yep, go back 2 years ago and he made his highest ODI score of 98 the day Finch managed a golden duck v the Windies. Alas, since that moment, Khawaja produced 17, 14, 0 (#3), 6 (#3), 82* v Ireland, 17, 9 and 30. 175 from 7 outs with only one score over 30. He was ordinary in the Ashes series (where we expected him to perform on his favoured flat Australian tracks - where he normally looks so polished). So - there wasn't a major argument for him - OTHER than the absence of Smith and Warner. I'd suggest this 5 match series is seen as a chance to give the next generation a bit of a crack at it. The bowling line up is very raw, okay for a BBL outing but a 50 over game in England - they're coming up well short of the mark.
Nachiket Shirolkar
Roar Rookie
Well, he needs time as per me. Faulkner has got redundant in terms of his bowling. He has good variations, can be a good asset for the Aussies.
ozinsa
Guest
And now Agar at 6. Is Langer throwing darts at a board?
ozinsa
Guest
Exactly. Moving a world class operator to accommodate less talented alternatives was dumb. I like Paine as a bloke and his contribution in tests last summer was immense but if this side was picked on form (as opposed to the repair job we are deemed to need) he’d be a long way from a start - there are 3-4 keepers with better white ball form (one actually in the squad). I now see we’ve dropped Maxi to squeeze Carey in and retain Paine. Not sure there were many different bowling options but our selection logic for batting has been muddled at best
Stephen
Guest
Nudge your comment is a joke, how is khawaja a 50/50 call, his fielding is fine and he has got his fitness strong now, yet still folks find excuses to keep him in
Stephen
Guest
How many chances will we give head, khawaja got 10% of these chances
jameswm
Roar Guru
Yep, because England have such a good record of achievement in world cups...
mrrexdog
Roar Guru
Dan Christians T20 stats for the last 12 months English T20 Blast: average 35 sr 153 (16 games) Big Bash: average: 27 sr153 (10 games) IPL: average: 13 sr 78 (4 games) I want Christian to play the Glenn Maxwell role batting at 6 or 7 and really finishing off an innings, which would allow Maxwell to move up to bat in the top 3 and having bigger impact. Although I think Stoinis had the potential to be a finisher. As for Paine we might as well let him focus on test cricket. Carey will probably keep during the World Cup, unless Dunk can find a bit of form.
Dan in Devon
Guest
Spot on. And it would send a great message to the rest of the team that he is prepared to lead from the front. I was hoping he would have opened in the last match just as a way of marking a line in the sand and showing that Australia was not going to step backwards from a fight.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Roger it would be interesting to see what Maxwell could do at 3 but I think his best value is in the middle order because Australia have no one else who can destroy bowling attacks in the final 15 overs like he can, whereas they have plenty of top order options.