The unique feeling before preseason tryouts is one that most sportsmen and women, from local plodder to seasoned pro, can identify with.
It matters little if the impending audition determines primary school or national team selection; anxious excitement and heightened self-awareness take over. Every move matters, and the realisation everyone’s watching is palpable. Squad incumbents are outwardly confident but inwardly tense, for the new kids on the block could take their place. Newcomers, on the other hand, are hopeful and expectant, eager to make themselves known for all the right reasons.
For Australia’s cricketers, this September is their preseason trial.
The Australia A tour of India starting Sunday and the JLT Cup starting 16 September represent perhaps the best chances for players to establish themselves within an Australia set-up that at present is decidedly unstable. Injuries, high-profile suspensions and poor form has created a scenario in which few players have cemented spots in the Test and ODI teams.
Certainly the A tour has morphed, by coincidence or design, into a selection trial for the two-Test series against Pakistan in October. Six spots are up for grabs for the first test XI: four batsmen, a spinner and a paceman. The other five – Tim Paine, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon – are ostensibly locks for the first test, barring injury.
For the rest, the battle is about to commence. Four batsmen who played Australia’s last test match, a 492-run humbling to South Africa, have been told they must perform on Subcontinent wickets before being selected. They are Usman Khawaja, Mitch Marsh, Matthew Renshaw and Peter Handscomb.
(AAP Image/David Moir)
Langer has said the tour will have a “huge” bearing on who he takes to the UAE, and it would appear that just two spots are currently secured in Australia’s top six, namely Shaun Marsh and Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell was told he could prepare for the Pakistan series in Australia and is a proven performer on spinning wickets.
Selection for the remaining four spots will be a six-way battle between the aforementioned four, Travis Head and Kurtis Patterson. While most would assume a pecking order for selection led, for example, by Usman Khawaja, Langer has indicated that all cards are on the table. Runs in India equals first Test selection against Pakistan, it would seem. For Head and Patterson, both yet to make their test debut, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Things are similarly up in the air on the bowling front. With the assumption that Australia will field two spinners and two pacemen in the UAE, Ashton Agar, Jon Holland and Mitchell Swepson will battle it out to partner Nathan Lyon in the first test starting 7 October. Again, Agar would appear to be the favourite in this trio, but a Swepson debut or Holland recall is not beyond possibility.
With injuries to both Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc’s pace partner is also undecided. Those vying for the final place in the XI include Jhye Richardson, Chris Tremain and Michael Neser. Cummins’s much-admired performance on lifeless Indian pitches in last year’s tour of India reiterated the importance of raw pace on the Subcontinent, thus Richardson, who regularly bowls upwards of 140 kilometres per hour, would appear a frontrunner.
However, selectors will consider the workload on the 21-year-old for what’s expected to be brutal conditions. Experienced campaigner Tremain, the 2017-18 Sheffield Shield player of the year, therefore remains a strong chance.
(AAP Image/Darren England)
Similar to the A tour, albeit with less immediate impact, the JLT One-Day Cup starting in a fortnight represents a significant opportunity for ODI hopefuls to force their way into the side. A horror 5-0 whitewash defeat to England this winter was Australia’s fourth series loss in a row. The side has won just two of their past 20 matches and is undergoing a complete revamp.
If ever there was a time to squeeze your way into the side, it is now.
With the World Cup just nine months away, strong performance in the condensed three-week tournament is imperative. More immediately, JLT form could garner selection for the three-match ODI series against South Africa in November which kicks off the international summer.
While runs and wickets in the aforementioned ‘trials’ will largely determine those who make the test and ODI squads, another selection variable comes in the form of new coach Justin Langer. The West Australian has already indicated he will do things differently to Darren Lehmann, with a focus on players who both express themselves individually and show strong discipline.
Given the fact he now makes up one of just three national selectors after a recent overhaul, players must also fit within his cricketing philosophies should they wish to secure a spot in his new-look side.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Matthew Wade Test career 38 innings, including 7 not outs, avge 48.6 balls faced per innings, 886 runs @ 28.58 2/100's, 4/50's. I don't class him a Test player either mrrexdog, but his ratio of a not out every 5 innings says he was prepared to bat with the tail, build partnerships and do this at 7. If Maxwell is superior and a lock to bat a 5-6, then he's going to have to channel Steve Waugh and think about what the team needs. He's been around the set up for 6 years, so knows what's expected.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
If Marsh is not fit to bowl he shouldn't be anywhere near the team
jameswm
Roar Guru
Why did they pick Head and Patterson when they’re notoriously bad against spin?
Krishna Singh
Roar Rookie
Khawaja look good again with runs in first four day match against India, that also in spin condition
Ben
Roar Rookie
He averaged 50.5 batting at 3 in Sheffield Shield 2017.
Ben
Roar Rookie
His last scores in India are 4, 31, 0 and 13. He did play improve in Australia but he will have to play well in India. I would pick khawaja ahead of him if he can’t bowl.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
I get you, but your reply sums up my point. His temperament isn't up to it. What you seem to be saying is he hasn't been given enough time to show what he displays in Shield, but surely you come out and play like you did in Shield as that's the criteria you were selected on. My earlier point was he responds to criticism by playing a responsible innings, hits through the line (his down the ground punch shot is a proven winner) makes a score and then loses the plot next innings as though he can play the way he wants because he proven something. He did, play straight and on its merits and live to face the bad ball. Sadly he gets a good ball and he decides regardless of where the next one is he'll play a predetermined shot. The irony about him being a lock for the UAE, is the last time he played a Test there (2015) he was given the honour of batting at 4 with Pakistan having amassed 600. He had days to settle in and show his Shield form. He faced 40 balls in 2 innings for a total of 41 runs and got himself out to a pre-meditated shot. I'll admit he's trying to face more in tests with an average 40.7 balls faced in his 14 innings against 23.9 in ODI's and 16.41 in T20I's, but whether he bats at 3 or 5-6 as you suggest his career says he hasn't convinced himself that he'll be the one to be there when the winning runs are hit, the end of the day, see out the draw, hold an end for a partner who's flying. He leaves way too many overs unused.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Happy to agree to disagree, BurgyGreen, that's what a debate is about. We put our opinion forward, we can add facts to support the opinion and hopefully at the end we have a better understanding of other sides of a topic. That understanding can then be added to strengthen your own opinion or modify it if you're not stubbornly set in your stance. Too often these days we are told what to think and if you dare deviate then the name calling and trolling begins. This site is better than that.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Come on David, Finch hits through the line and has a defence. He's more suited to Test cricket than Maxwell
David Schout
Expert
I think merely looking at stats is unfair in the subcontinent. Runs on a spitting deck in India or Sri Lanka are worth far more (IMO) than on a flat Gabba. Maxwell's 45 in Dharamsala last year against India doesn't look amazing on paper, but was comfortably our top score, for example. He is 'proven' in the way he plays spin (in all formats) in India, somewhere he has been 13-14 times for international and IPL duty. Watch him at the crease. In terms of the comparison with Finch, I disagree completely.
David Schout
Expert
I don't think they're 'excluded' as such, just further down the order than they guys picked for the A tour. I think for Finch there's questions whether his temperament and skill set would succeed abroad. No doubt he could make test runs in Australia and a good Oct-Nov in the Shield could see him rewarded this summer. But if you ask whether I see him playing in next year's Ashes in the UK, I'd say no. His name is always thrown about on the back of white ball form, so he needs a solid period of four-day cricket to come into the reckoning.
mrrexdog
Roar Guru
With Maxwell you need to remember that in his first 3 tests he batted all over the place. In his first test he batted at 8 behind both Wade and Henriques who are inferior batsman. In his second test he opened the batting because Shane Watson was captain. In his third test he batted at 3 because Michael Clarke didn’t want to face the new ball. He averaged 13 in those 3 games. He averaged 37 in the 4 tests he played last year. Maxwell averages 54 when he bats at 5 and 42 when he bats at 6.
AREH
Roar Guru
I'd agree he's been more on the unlucky side up until now; especially without yet being afforded a single test at home. I wouldn't label him a definitive lock either for the UAE, but would still be very surprised if he is left out of that XI.
Christopher Irwin
Guest
Ernest Joe Burns seems to have become the forgotten man. He recently said that he's hitting the ball well, and today made 106 not out for Northern Suburbs against Wynnum/Manly in a one day game. Although it's only at first grade club level making runs is all one can do. What happens if the current Australia A batsmen in India don't perform too well in the two forthcoming four day games? Obviously Brisbane suburban pitches are far different to those that will be found in the UAE against Pakistan!
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Agree. They will want another bowler over there, sounds like Marsh is fit and his South African trip was not as bad with the bat as some others. He at least helped win the first test match before the whole tour went down the toilet. I'd be very surprised if he is not in the starting 11, the only thing that will stop them picking him is fitness issues. I'd like to see Maxwell given one last chance, it's not like there are loads of players screaming out to be picked. No-one expects the Aussies to win on this tour so it might just be a chance for players to set out their stall individually for the summer.
Adam Bagnall
Roar Guru
I had a look at his stats, and they aren't pretty. 7 Tests, 14 innings averaging just 26 with a top score of 104, so a third of his 339 Test runs coming from one innings. Hardly reason to lock him in to the XI. I'd leave him for hit and giggle cricket and let the big boys play the real stuff
Adam Bagnall
Roar Guru
When was Maxwell considered a certainty at Test level? He rarely delivers and is little more than a backyard basher.
Paul
Roar Guru
David, why would these guys be excluded from consideration? Australia's not exactly overflowing with Test quality batsmen at present and both these guys are in pretty good form, albeit in different formats
BurgyGreen
Guest
Disagree strongly, as per my reply to your comment below. My have to agree to disagree here.
David Schout
Expert
Correct Paul, at least not in the subcontinent. I see them down the pecking order, and believe the selectors do too. Big shield runs early doors could obviously change that.