In announcing their World Cup squad yesterday, Australia picked a batting unit which lacks dynamism and is instead filled with players who prefer to build an innings rather than take the game on.
While World Cup favourites and hosts England will field a hyper-attacking lineup designed to aim for 350-plus totals, Australia’s top order group has a more conservative, old-school feel to it.
Among the eight batting options Australia included in their 15-man squad, only two of them are batsmen who look to grab the game by the scruff of the neck – Glenn Maxwell and David Warner. Otherwise, Australia picked a wicketkeeper in Alex Carey who works the ball around nicely but has no power game, and five batsmen who like to start their innings slowly and then build momentum.
Those batsmen are in-form openers Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja, returning star Steve Smith, prolific veteran Shaun Marsh and struggling all-rounder Marcus Stoinis.
Although all five are good ODI cricketers, not one of them would intimidate an opposition attack. Not until they are well set, at least. Any decent white-ball batsman is dangerous when they’ve played themselves in and are seeing the ball like a watermelon. What a lineup requires, for optimum balance, is several batsmen who bowlers worry about from ball one.
(AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
England, for example, have five batsmen in their top seven for whom it is normal to get off to a flying start: Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali. In fact, you could argue they have six because captain Eoin Morgan has become a very attacking ODI batsman, with a scorching strike rate of 105 over the past year.
That’s not to suggest Australia should have stacked their World Cup squad with hitters. They tried that unsuccessfully last year when they over-corrected and loaded up on too many cavalier batsmen. Instead, it is about trying to find the correct balance between aggression and stability in your batting lineup.
Australia now have no choice in the World Cup but to field a top seven which features four fairly slow starters and a nurdler of a wicketkeeper. That’s too cautious.
The biggest issue for Australia is that, if this safety-first batting strategy doesn’t succeed, they have no Plan B – there is no other batsman in the squad who can add a more aggressive edge to their top seven.
Listen as The Roar’s new podcast, Game of Codes, breaks down the Australian World Cup squad.
The squad Australia picked is very solid, don’t get me wrong. It is a unit which can win this World Cup. The key change I would have made though would have been to leave out one of the seven specialist bowlers picked in favour of a batsman who offers something different.
Australia had two good options in that regard in Peter Handscomb and Ashton Turner. Handscomb reminds me of Mike Hussey in the way that he typically starts his innings quickly without taking risks.
The Victorian does not need time to get settled at the crease before he can start scoring at a run-a-ball like so many of the other Australians. He is a middle order specialist, capable of either bunkering down in a crisis, rotating the strike nicely to let his batting partner attack, or taking on the responsibility of being the aggressor.
Peter Handscomb with Steve Smith. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)
Australia now have no middle order specialist like this in their squad. Turner, meanwhile, could have offered them a second destructive option for the middle order to back up Maxwell. Unlike Stoinis, who consistently gets stuck in the mud before building momentum, Turner gets going immediately.
Stoinis can be very damaging once he has his eye in but the problem is that over his past 20 ODIs it has taken him far too long to get set. Middle order batsmen in ODIs rarely can afford to bat at a snail’s pace for their first ten overs at the crease but Stoinis has made a habit of doing just that.
Yet if Stoinis can’t find form during the World Cup – he’s averaged 25 at a dawdling strike rate of 82 in his past 20 matches – Australia can only replace him with a top order, anchor-style batsman. The reserve batsman in Australia’s squad will be one of Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja or Smith – three players who are used to batting in the top order and having time to build an innings. None of that trio would be suited to batting at five or six if Stoinis needed to be dropped.
This represents a worrying lack of flexibility in the Australian squad. Having seven specialist bowlers in the squad is nonsense. It is complete overkill. Six would have been plenty, and if any of those six succumbed to injury, they could have immediately been replaced with one of the bowlers playing one-day matches in England for Australia A.
But if Australia’s cautious batting strategy is exposed they have no option to bring in a more dynamic batsman from outside of the squad to change the balance of their top seven.
They have put all of their batting eggs into one basket, which is labelled: ‘safety first’.
James
Roar Rookie
Ashton Turner! Two first ball ducks in two innings in the IPL. At least he hasn't used up too many balls. The Australian selectors had no other options to be fair. Handscomb would have been my choice instead of S Marsh but apart from him, there were only left field options. D'Arcy Short, Mitchell Marsh, Dan Christian? The selectors had to pick our best players and I believe they have done that. Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear! If we make the knockout stages it will be more likely a result of great bowling and fielding and occasional brilliance from Finch, Warner and Maxwell. Mitchell Starc for our MVP.
Ben
Guest
Don't bother calling Ronan out on his inconsistencies, he'll never acknowledge them.
sdhoneymonster
Guest
England's seam attack is good with the new ball but now that Plunkett's form seems to be tailing off it lacks a seamer who can take wickets in the middle, and they've struggled a bit at the death. Interesting that both Archer and Jordan have been included in the wider squad - both are very good bowlers at the death, along with Tom Curran who's a wicket taking option at both ends of the innings. Archer would also be a strike bowler in the middle overs as would Wood if he can show the same sort of fire he showed in the Caribbean. I think their seam attack will be strong all round come the tournament.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
I see Steve Smith was dropped from his IPL team, replaced by Ashton Turner. I know T20 is different to 50 over cricket, but it does highlight that he has looked very rusty despite a promising start to the IPL season. Another reason for having Handscomb in reserve, given the question marks over other batsmen in the team - Finch, Stoinis and Carey, and whether Khawaja can succeed in England and score quickly enough.
pedrax
Roar Rookie
Ideally the team would have more power hitters in the middle order, but I think it is a good enough squad to give our bowlers something to defend. Warner (3), Smith(4), Maxwell (5) and Stoinis (6) are all capable of power hitting, with the first two also capable of building. Cary (7) is weak, and Stoinis lacks form, but Cary can come up the order in a re-build ahead of Maxwell and Stoinis. NCN, Richardson, Starc and Cummins are also capable of hitting hard and could get elevated above Cary if things are going well. Marsh is not one-dimensional, he is also capable of hitting out, just look at his T20 record. We've seen time and again how Australia steps up in WC pressure matches. Sides won't be intimidated by the batting line up, but few would want to be chasing 300+ in a semi against a confident attack led by Starc and Cummins.
redbackfan
Roar Rookie
yeh right, what was turners contribution to the strike rate v handscombs? my strike rate looks pretty good if you combine me with turners with that 80 0dd off 40 balls. no bias here.. move along..
Tony H
Roar Pro
That's a fair point Rowan, but seeing as nearly everyone went at 7 an over last series against England, it's unfair single out Stoinis. No one in that series really covered themselves in glory from a bowling perspective.
Graeme Combe
Guest
I think Smith and Warner will be under more pressure during this campaign than any other cricketers in my memory. None of the above discussion considers the option of them both failing !
shirtpants
Roar Guru
Everyone's been banging on about us turning into a threat at the right time but fact is we don't have the strike rate to match it with the best.
Simoc
Guest
Pity they're using the second rate Kookaburra white ball. It means a run fest. Using the white Dukes means a wicket fest. So it's going to be a batsmans ODI series and plenty of sloggers are required. Strange since the Kookaburra doesn't hold its colour, doesn't swing and costs 3 three times as much to buy.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Just trying to remember whether the same thing was said about the 5 winning WC squads Australia has had so far. I’m pretty sure though that England has been declared WC Champions 12 months out from the tournament EVERY time. Crystal balls, heh?
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Better off on Twitter for that.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Anderson is one of the best fast bowling fielders I’ve ever seen. Great hands. They field him everywhere in the test side except fine leg or third man
Barney
Roar Rookie
A left field suggestion...open with Stoinis and you could bat Finch at 4. Smith/Marsh at 3 and Max at 5, that would allow another hitter at 6...oh that’s right we didn’t pick another one.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Ha ha!!! Yeah, I think the selectors were always going to bring Smith and Warner back (rightly or wrongly). Which meant that someone very deserving was going to miss out. It's a big gamble bringing players back into a World Cup squad with only a handful of IPL games under their belt, and both having had recent injuries. I guess only time will tell as to whether the gamble will pay off...
Peter
Guest
Finch Stoinis (put him here or don't play him at all) Warner Smith Maxi Carey
Tom
Guest
Mitch Marsh should be there over Stoinis. Twice the bowler and doesnt take 5 overs to get going with the bat. Stoinis is so incredibly overrated.
Tom
Guest
Ball barely swings in ODI’s, that said, Finch’s issue wasnt even with the swinging ball, his issue was with the full straight ball on middle and off. I think we need to bat him at 4 or we are going to see that issue all over again against good bowlers. Runs against a third string Pakistan bowling lineup hasn’t convinced me Finch is back.
Barney
Roar Rookie
Jimmy A is too slow, but would be more than useful for a few overs. He is also a crap bat and even worse fielder
Barney
Roar Rookie
Rohan, Mitch Starc would beg to differ.