Australia’s reliance on Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins has prevented them from developing pace depth at Test level, unlike rivals India and South Africa.
Apart from the Big Three, Australia’s only quicks who have a relevant level of Test experience are veterans Peter Siddle (34 years old) and Jackson Bird (32), both of whom are clearly past their peaks.
Right now, the two best pace options outside the Test team are Victoria’s Chris Tremain and WA’s Jhye Richardson. Both are yet to make their Test debuts.
This is creating an unhealthy dependence on the Big Three, who have underperformed this past year, Cummins apart.
Because if the selectors consider dropping Starc or Hazlewood, who own 198 and 162 Test wickets apiece, their potential replacements are either the on-the-wane Siddle or Bird, or an unproven quick like Tremain, Richardson or Joe Mennie.
By comparison, both India and SA have far healthier situations. Outside of their first-choice pace trios, SA and India have back-up quicks who can step straight into Tests without their side losing much, if anything.
Waiting in the wings, India have the experienced pair of Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who have 119 and 63 Test wickets respectively.
South Africa, meanwhile, have been able to offer some crucial Test exposure to young guns Lungi Ngidi and Duanne Olivier over the past 18 months to help build their pace depth.
As a result both teams have five pace bowlers they can be comfortable of fielding in virtually any conditions. South Africa have Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander, with Ngidi and Olivier as insurance, while India boast Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma, with Yadav and Bhuvneshwar as back-ups.
South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
This is why Australia should offer Test debuts to at least one of Tremain or Richardson in this month’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka.
Tremain is the best red ball bowler yet to represent Australia, having taken 155 wickets at 21 across the past four Sheffield Shield seasons.
Richardson, meanwhile, is more of a speculative pick. But anyone who has watched the 22-year-old bowl in the Shield will be familiar with his rare mix of hurrying pace, late swing, impressive accuracy and admirable stamina.
He reminds me of his bowling idol Steyn, and with 49 wickets at 23 Richardson has made a wonderful start to his first-class career.
I argued last month that Tremain should have replaced the out-of-touch Mitchell Starc for the second Test against India.
Still I believe that Tremain should have featured at some point in that series given the laboured efforts of Starc and Hazlewood.
By series end that pair looked jaded. Both men have struggled in Tests since the start of last year, with Hazlewood averaging 35 in that time and Starc 36.
They remain quality Test cricketers, and have huge roles left to play for Australia, but right now neither is demanding Test selection. It’s the perfect time to offer opportunities to hugely-talented pacemen like Tremain and Richardson in a low-profile home series against Sri Lanka.
Australia could drop-rest-rotate (call it what you want) both of Starc and Hazlewood and still have plenty of firepower in their Test attack.
Cummins and Nathan Lyon are experienced players in career-best form and can anchor the attack. Australia should seriously consider playing both Tremain and Richardson alongside that pair for the first Test against Sri Lanka in Brisbane in 16 days from now.
Jhye Richardson of Australia in action during the second One Day International cricket match between Australia and England at the Gabba in Brisbane, Friday, January 19, 2018. (AAP Image/Darren England)
Australia know what they can get out of Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood. What they need to start deciphering is which other quicks have what it takes to flourish at Test level. Because, at this point, Australia’s good pace depth exists only in theory.
Old Greybeard
Roar Rookie
He came to the season with one shield game. He then bowled on heartbreak pitches. HE might well be fatigued, but there is another story here. None of the top three swung the ball. Why? They all could previously. Coaching?
Old Greybeard
Roar Rookie
Always struggling and rarely looks like he is into the groove in my view. I had hopes, but no longer
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
Australian team management should rest Starc and Hazelwood after a tedious India Series. They should pick Tremaine and Jhye Rechardson against a weak Sri Lankan side.
Ana
Guest
How about Sean Abbott???
Ana
Guest
Jhye deserves a permanent test spot
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Dave I've gone into length in a comment above about why I didn't think Pattinson should be selected for Tests until he plays the rest of the Shield season and proves his body is holding up. If Pattinson's body holds up in the rest of this Shield season and he does well with the ball also then he'd be well worth picking for the Ashes tour.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Nice idea, but shouldn’t Pattinson be one of the first considered from the next rank of bowlers. Perhaps needs a few more Shield games, but surely the most likely among the replacements to do well in England? Only 28, Test average of 26, FC 22. Killed em in county cricket a year or two ago. I know Tremain has good Shield figures but does he really look more likely to succeed at Test level than other recent one Test wonders like Sayers and Mennie? Worth noting that Olivier and Ngidi haven’t played because SA have deliberately blooded them to breed depth. They’ve made the team on merits, sometimes due to injury. E.g. Ngidi out when Steyn came back, Olivier in on form. Watching highlights of Pakistan Test, Olivier looks more dangerous than any of the Indians apart from Bumrah. Rabada and Philander remain the best two quicks in the world.
George
Guest
Exactly.
Dan Ced
Roar Rookie
The difference in the India series was Pujara.. our bowlers couldn't get him out, whereas their bowlers could get out our "set" batsmen. You have to reward Shield form, Starc and Hazelwood are certainly droppable. Something has to give. Personally I'd also like someone like Ahmed in the squad (or a similarly performing shield leggie). Tremain is a no-brainer (I still think Boland is underwhelming and his wickets are easy ones).
Dan Ced
Roar Rookie
Have you watched him since his comeback? He bowls like Stoinis now, he would no longer work as an attacking option.
Drew
Roar Rookie
The Test attack lacks variety. When Starc is erratic, there is a distinct sameness to the pace bowling. The best bowling attacks have variety. Hazlewood and Starc have been below their best for some time. Cummins and Hazlewood bowl short of a length outside off, Starc looks for a hooping inswinger that he can rarely nail. Then switching to short stuff for overs on end. Granted, they haven't had huge totals too defend but they don't seem to get much movement in the air or from the deck. These guys need to be put on notice. Given good performers in the Shield a chance is overdue. Tremain, J Richardson and a swing/seam bowler like Worrall or Copeland should be around the squad. Dropping or resting one or both of Starc and Hazelwood (maybe giving them only one test each vs SL) should happen.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Tremain's first-class record is akin to a first-class batting record of about 5,000 runs at an average of 50. Imagine how people would be scrambling to select a Shield batsman with a record like that?
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
"Australia should not disrespect Sri Lanka". Brian how would it "disrespect" Sri Lanka if Australia dropped a bowler who have averaged 46 with the ball in his last 8 Tests (Starc) for a pace bowler who has 204 wickets at 23 in first-class cricket (Tremain)?
AREH
Roar Guru
Nobody has taken more Shield wickets than Tremain across the last three seasons, so this wouldn't be a random selection not fully earned like Brendan Doggett for example. The fact he's also done this playing a majority of cricket on the placid MCG wicket speaks volumes too. Nothing surer than Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins lining up in Edgbaston, but for now, I think this would be wise. Tremain's ability to swing the ball also gives the attack a point of difference.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Pattinson is a gun, but I don't see him as a Test option at all until he proves that his body is holding together. Pattinson's only recently returned from another very long injury layoff - more than 12 months out of first-class cricket - and is bowling with the same action that's earned him serious injuries time and time again over the past 6-7 years. He needs to be left in the Shield to hopefully prove that his body can withstand first-class cricket. It would be madness to pick him for Tests now given he's not even started bowling properly for Victoria in the Shield yet. Pattinson was at a 50% workload in his four Shield matches this summer, bowling only 19 overs per match, compared to 36 overs and 35 overs per match for his Victorian pace colleagues Tremain and Boland. If Victoria aren't even confident Pattinson can handle more than a 50% workload in Shield cricket he shouldn't be anywhere near the Test team.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
"Tremain... I suspect... will lack penetration in trying conditions." Rob that is an odd opinion. Tremain is based at the MCG - the flattest pitch in Australia over the course of his career - and yet has averaged 24 with the ball on that road over his first-class career. Tremain's ability to be penetrative on dead pitches is literally his biggest asset.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Surely it's a free pass for the selectors. If they pitch in one of the 'depth' bowlers over the golden trio and he runs amok they can just say it was due to pink ball/conditions/opposition and drop him anyway. If he fails, they will use the same reasoning as to why his failure was inexcusable and drop him anyway. mind you, I'm not confident of winning - I remember an ODI against sri lanka at the gabba where they shot us out for 74 in 2013. Admittedly they lost 6 wickets chasing it down, but no-one collapses quite like australia in recent years
Trevor
Guest
Agree with the sentiment, however Starc has been beyond poor for two years (look at how his average has progressively gone up since the Sri Lanka tour in 2016). His time for a long rest is well and truly due. He now needs to go back to domestic 4-day cricket and earn his spot in the side with all the other hopefuls.
George
Guest
And just ignore Tremain no matter how well he plays?
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
Thanks Brian. A couple of top giggles there.