The ODI team is in a mess and it has been for a while. It’s no use saying “oh wait til Mitch Starc/Josh Hazlewood/Pat Cummins/Dave Warner/Steve Smith/Mitch Marsh come back” because we used to lose with those players too.
They won’t fix five other issues – the keeper, the spin bowler, the middle/lower order batting, the lack of a bowling all rounder and the back up pace attack – which means we lose again and again.
Australia at least seem to have plans for the keeper and spinner – they’ll probably give Alex Carey an extended go behind the stumps (he should’ve kept on this tour, not Tim Paine) and if he doesn’t work out we do have some other options on the bench – including Matt Wade who is not a Test standard keeper but an ODI option.
For the spinners it seems to be a race between Ashton Agar and Nate Lyon – will Agar’s better skill with the bat outpace Lyon’s better skill with the ball? That seems fair enough though it’s a shame Fawad Ahmed, who has a strong one day domestic record, isn’t in the reckoning somewhere.
And at least they are plans. For the middle/lower order Australia seems to be all at sea. They try Aaron Finch, but he goes better up top. Marcus Stoinis also goes better up top. Head, too, goes better up top. Glenn Maxwell goes better up top. Paine, but he goes better up top. Chris Lynn is good but he’s injured. Then there’s Carey, but he’s not a specialist bat. Cameron White didn’t click.
What’s a selector to do? What about Nic Maddinson?
Okay, okay, hear me out… I get his issues.
He shouldn’t have played Test cricket, his form didn’t demand it.
I know he’s not wanted by his own state.
I get that he practically screams “talented person who won’t work hard enough to apply it”.
He doesn’t offer that much in the way of bowling or fielding. But…
He is talented with the bat. Yes, I know, that’s often a mirage but his one day stats at domestic level aren’t too bad – 66 games, 2324 runs, average 38.09 strike rate of 88.
Absolutely he normally opens but he’s been very consistent in the JTL Cup over the past few seasons.
I know that the selectors seem to prefer using T20 form as a guide to domestic one day form (a whole other issue) but Maddinson’s recent T20 form as been good too.
I remember watching the Queensland versus NSW Shield game at Wollongong earlier this year. NSW were chasing down a decent Queensland total and Maddison was at the crease, tonking them around. When he got out, and you could hear the crowd deflate – because he was the one player who could’ve got NSW home. He’s the sort of player that can win matches.
Maybe I am grasping at straws here?
At least it’s a plan. Give Maddinson a shot in the middle order at five or six.
Right, that leaves the lack of a bowling all rounder and a decent back up attack of pace bowlers…
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