“We pick too many mediocre batsmen. Back in the day, Matty Hayden had to peel off thousand-run Shield season after thousand-run Shield season and average north of fifty just to get a look in.”
It’s a commonly expressed sentiment in the daily rounds of drop-this-bloke-in-favour-of-this-other-bloke that dominate discussions around the Australian top order.
There’s unquestionable truth in both Hayden’s prolific but often unrewarded situation back in the mid-1990s and the quality of the side he was trying to break into.
But there is also often-overlooked detail in the Hayden scenario back in the day that is almost impossible to apply to the Australian summer of cricket 25 years on, and that is that the modern Australian cricket schedule looks nothing like it did back then.
The obvious difference is the two-month gap in the middle of the summer where Twenty20 cricket takes over.
Hayden didn’t have to worry about that back in the day; he played Shield games interlaced with state one-dayers most weeks from October to March.
Hayden first played Sheffield Shield cricket for Queensland in the summer of 1991-92.
His first three seasons saw him go past 1000 runs for the summer, and he fell only 46 short in the fourth season too.
The third of those 1000-run seasons was his extraordinary 1993-94 summer, in which he peeled off 1136 runs in just six Shield games. Average: 126.22!
In Hayden’s first five Shield seasons he amassed 5119 runs in 99 innings across 54 matches. And by the end of the 1995-96 season he’d played just one of his 103 Tests.
The big takeaway for me in pulling out the big Queensland opener’s numbers is the innings and match tallies. In three of those five seasons he batted 21, 26 and 23 times for the Bulls in their Shield campaign alone.
That just can’t happen these days. For one thing, even if they play in the Shield final on top of every game scheduled, your average state player in Australia can play a maximum of 11 games. And four states will play only ten.
If Joe Burns or Matt Renshaw or Glenn Maxwell wants to force his way into the Test side through weight of Shield runs, at the start of the season there’s a maximum of 20 opportunities to bat. In Maxwell’s case Victoria have batted twice in only four of their six games this summer already.
And in one of those games they only lost two wickets in a small run chase. At most, Maxwell will now bat only 17 times for the Vic this summer.
Except that it’s less than that because Maxwell has in actual fact played only the last two of those six Shield games Victoria has already played by virtue of being involved with the Australian limited-overs series against Pakistan, South Africa and India.
(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Now, limited overs internationals were played back in Hayden’s early days, but not nearly as many as are played every year now, and there were no Twenty20 internationals at all.
In 2000-01 and 2001-02, as he was starting to establish himself in the Test side, Hayden still played around ten Shield games for Queensland.
Usman Khawaja has played just one Shield game for Queensland this season and played only three times last year.
So while it would be great to have blokes peeling off 1000-run Shield seasons again, the reality of the schedule makes that less and less likely.
And the obvious by-product there is that that old yardstick really can’t be used any more.
A look at last season’s Shield numbers shows three of the top ten run-scorers averaging less than 40 and another three averaging below 45.
Only three batsmen in the top 20 run-scorers – Burns, Maxwell, and forgotten former Victorian captain Cameron White – averaged better than 50 and only five made more than 750 runs for the season, with Renshaw’s 804 the only tally within 200 of the old Hayden standard.
On that front it’s somewhat encouraging to note that after the first six Shield rounds this summer 12 batsmen have topped 400 runs, three of whom have gone past 500.
Two of those 12 – Marcus Harris and Shaun Marsh – are in the Test side, while Peter Handscomb’s 361 runs place him 13th.
Only two of those 13 average less than 40 this summer, but only three average more than 50.
(Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)
But with the Big Bash League set to take over from next Wednesday night, Shield form is going to become less and less and relevant the further the summer gets on.
The quick turnaround between the first two and then the last two Tests against India means changes to the batting order are unlikely to be anything other than injury-forced.
And come the two Tests against Sri Lanka in late January and early February, what weight will Shield runs in November carry?
This is why coaches have to trot out the line oft-bemoaned that the player in question is “hitting them all right” against the white ball or in the nets.
With the Australian summer now sliced and diced in more directions than previously thought possible, actual measures like season averages and run tallies have to make way for subjective observations around ball-striking.
Form as we know it becomes much harder to judge by any tangible degree.
The players know this too. Just on Wednesday, while being unveiled as the Melbourne Stars skipper for BBL08, Maxwell himself admitted, “I suppose being a middle-order batsman in Twenty20 cricket, it’s probably harder to get picked [for the Test side] on your white-ball form.
“If things go my way and there’s injuries and stuff like that, I’ll be more than happy to take the position, but it looks fairly unlikely,” he said, rather matter-of-factly.
It’s not ideal and it’s a long way from perfect, but what methods you might choose to judge players by is essentially the same as team selection nowadays: a very, very inexact science.
The changing Australian cricket landscape means what we once thought was normal is now extraordinary.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
One reason is because for a number of years Cricket Australia have treated the domestic competition with contempt, in an attempt to be funky, take the grass off pitches for the start of shield games, introduce their youth elevation policy and control bowler workloads, among other things. Respecting the domestic 4 day comp would be the first step in sending the right message to our current batsmen.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
It is easy to agree with the 1000 runs measure as not being realistic as it once was. However, the 50 average should be a realistic expectation, despite a crammed schedule. The modern bats are far superior to those used by Hayden and the pitches are often less lively than was once traditional. Why don't our best players average 50 anymore? They simply aren't good enough, in a couple of key areas. Their techniques, footwork in particular, are poor, and they don't have the patience. Yes, all the flat track 20 and 50 over matches contribute to this, but that shouldn't mean we lower the 50 measure to a new measure of 40. Lowering the expectation is what has Australian batting in the most dire position it has been in my 40+ years of following the sport. Cricket Australia's new matrix would indicate they have set 30 as their new 50. Our current policy of selecting batsmen with mid 30's first class averages, highlights the reality that we have very few test quality batsmen playing. The best we have fall well short of what should be test standard. It's why our test side, despite one of the best bowling attacks in world cricket, struggle to find success. If fans accept your premise that 40 is the new 50, they also need to accept that we will rarely win away from home and regularly have batting collapses if the ball is moving off the deck. That is not a reality i wish to accept. I would rather believe we can produce world class batsmen, who can build their batting around a solid defensive technique, play the ball under their eye line and find that averaging 50 at domestic level is not the stuff of myth and legend. The summer's cricket schedule has certainly changed but in lowering the acceptable standard for test selection, we also lower the value of our beloved Baggy Green. Surely, batting collapses of recent years scream that we do so at our own peril.
AP
Guest
Those are First Class centuries, not List A centuries.
Rob
Guest
The shield games are also treated like bat on day bowl the next affair pushing for out right points. They become a longer version of ODI cricket which probably doesn’t equate to 5 day 250 ball batting temperament. Renshaw coped criticism for batting to slow but he was setting a platform wearing down the opposition ? Warner also became more destructive and consistent.
Rob
Guest
Does the 250+ against NSW and century against India in India not count?
The Bush
Roar Guru
I don’t listen to any cricket commentary Brett, so I still have all my brain cells. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make, even if it means missing out on all of Wanrie’s “insights”.
Brett McKay
Expert
Paul, if it's way easier to average 50, then why do so few Shield batsmen do it? And I don't think I was saying it's impossible to break 1000 runs, nor was I blaming the calendar for a lack of quality batsmen. What I am saying is that applying the same benchmarks from 25 years ago on a cricket schedule that looks nothing like it did back then doesn't make a lot of sense..
Brett McKay
Expert
Nick, I get what you're saying, but I don't think the Australian system eve "expected you to go to England in April and carry on the good work." Blokes went to England, sure, and there even used to be the old Esso Scholarships that sent young players over for a season of League cricket (both Waugh brothers went, the list was quite long), but even back then there were restrictions in how many foreign players the Counties could bring over. Hayden, if I recall correctly, only played two English County season in those first five Shield seasons. And either way, the English season has changed as well, with the different formats of the game 'blocked' out a la the Australian season - which is why they now tend to call in specialists..
Swiggy
Guest
Ferguson average 39 should be in.
Brett McKay
Expert
The chances of this becoming reality are only slightly better than the rediscovery of the thylacine, Bushy, but I absolutely love the thought you've put into this and logic behind it all. It almost makes too much sense...
Paul
Roar Guru
Brett, I had to read your article several times simply because your basic premise is flawed. Yes, it is increasingly difficult to make 1000 runs in a season but it is not impossible by any means - if you're good enough. What is way easier to do is to average 50, regardless how many innings you bat and this is where the subjective decision making by selectors should come in. The real problem is simple - we do not have the same quality batsmen now that we had 30 years ago. You can make excuses about scheduling, etc, but the top class players would compensate and still average 50 and would by the end of a season, have made well over 600-700 runs. If scheduling and other excuses are the root of our cricketing woes, how do we still have 4 of the best Test bowlers in world cricket? Quality players will come through, but to blame the cricketing calendar for a lack of quality batsmen, is quite wrong.
Brett McKay
Expert
Ravi Ashwin has been ruled out of the Second Test, so the lip-licking will have to wait...
AP
Guest
Not at all - it's actually a portent towards Maxwell's plight re lack of FC cricket. Mitch Marsh's career numbers are far inferior to Maxwell's, but the fact that he has performed instead reflects his recent FC form - something that Maxwell has had no chance to accomplish. Plus I don't think too many Aussie batsmen have scored 6 FC tons in 12 months so I thought it was worth bringing up. Also in my opinion Maxwell - who has not scored a List A century since June 2015 - should be nowhere near the One Day International side at all. A full summer of FC cricket post-BBL - in conjunction with his stint in county cricket - should push him towards the front of the queue for the Ashes.
The Bush
Roar Guru
What is odd is that there are plenty of guys on the fringe of the test side who don't have random T20 tournaments throughout the year. So whilst I get that guys like Finch and Maxwell want to take up lucrative offers, as far as I'm aware Joe Burns has never played in the IPL or any other major T20 tournament. Yet he hasn't played in England since 2015. Likewise Lehmann has only played one season in England, back in 2016, but plays no international T20 tournaments. Is it perhaps the case that England has tightened the rules?
The Bush
Roar Guru
My preference would be for us to arrive early in foreign conditions and play proper FC warm up games, as opposed to playing a few random Shield games in March.
The Bush
Roar Guru
I dunno about that Nick. First off, the County season starts in Mid-April, not May, and April in England is hardly warm. The second thing is, for a lot of England, May is nothing like November in most of Australia, with it still being far from warm and dry. Finally, we've successfully played test series in winter in Australia in places like Cairns and Darwin. Whilst it's not ideal, you could hold the first two rounds or so in Cairns, Townsville, Darwin etc to take advantage of the climate and wait for football to finish.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
That last point is often overlooked. Having some shield games late season helps with tours in the Feb and March starts. The BBL can't be moved commercially, so we are stuck with a schedule that works against our own home season.
AB13
Guest
I like the alignment, but i'd have the shield running september to around 20-21 december. This lines up with the majority of the test calendar. I'd stop the shield season here with about 2 rounds to go before finals. From around the 24-26th December I'd start the BBL, yes it overlaps with the last test but I think playing it over the school holidays is far too valuable for CA. Although the current season is 8 weeks long, I'd rather see it pulled back to 6-7. The T20Is would follow the Test series with players having played BBL able to have had a few games to find form. Domestic one-dayers would be tied with the earlier shield fixtures like the old days and any remainders would be played over a 1-2 week carnival post BBL. Any ODIs would also follow the T20Is through to late Mid-Feb. I dont necessarily mind the breaking of the Shield season, provided it lines up closely with the Test calendar. The late season shield games are particularly valuable for tours following the Australian summer such as New Zealand, South Africa etc because it provides an opportunity for red-ball cricket in an era lacking tour matches.
Rob
Guest
But as the article states Maxwell has had limited opportunity and no continuity in Sheild cricket. Why did you say Maxwell’s FC average 42 and not Mitch Marsh’s average of 31? You are trying to sell M. Marsh numbers as better than Maxwell but Maxwell is clearly the better bat as the averages points out.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Don't forget that one of the reasons why players don't go to play county cricket is because it interferes with the BBL with IPL starting in early April. This is the problem