Australia should make two changes for their World Cup semi-final against England, with Peter Handscomb coming in for the injured Usman Khawaja and Mitch Marsh replacing the out-of-form Marcus Stoinis.
Cricket Australia were very clever to run an Australia A tour of England concurrently with this World Cup and it has now benefited Australia, who can call upon Marsh and Handscomb who are both in the UK – and both in form.
In Australia A’s four 50-over matches against county teams, Handscomb made 149 runs at 75, with a strike rate of 101, while Marsh made 126 runs without being dismissed, to go with five wickets at 29.
This is the team Australia should field against England
1. Aaron Finch (c)
2. David Warner
3. Steve Smith
4. Peter Handscomb
5. Mitch Marsh
6. Alex Carey
7. Glenn Maxwell
8. Pat Cummins
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Jason Behrendorff
11. Nathan Lyon
Handscomb is already in the Aussie squad, having been included on Friday as a replacement for Shaun Marsh, who broke his arm at training. Now Australia face the likelihood of having to find a substitute for Khawaja, who hurt his hamstring in yesterday’s narrow loss to South Africa.
The two obvious candidates are experienced batting all-rounder Mitch Marsh and veteran keeper-batsman Matt Wade, who is in blazing form with the bat.
Wade was brutal for Australia A in the one dayers, smashing 355 runs at 89, while scoring at a rate of nearly 11 runs per over.
Matthew Wade’s irresistible form with the bat makes a strong case for his selection (Jason O’Brien/Cricket Australia/Getty Images)
The 31-year-old’s crazy form extends across all three formats, having been the second-highest runscorer in both the Sheffield Shield and the BBL last summer.
He looks primed to make an impact should he get the call up to the World Cup. Wade’s renowned ball striking ability may well appeal to the selectors ahead of the clash against England, the fastest scoring team in the world. Fight fire with fire, perhaps?
If Wade were to come into the starting XI against England it would be as a specialist batsman, a role he filled in three of the Australia A matches as Handscomb kept.
He very likely would be replacing one of Stoinis or Maxwell. Australia cannot afford to carry both of these out-of-form all-rounders in a knockout match against England.
Australia’s middle order is hugely vulnerable at the moment due to the laboured efforts of Stoinis and Maxwell, who combined have averaged just 20 with the bat from their 15 innings in this World Cup. One of them has to go.
Stoinis looms as a risky proposition, having suffered his second side strain of the tournament yesterday.
Picking players with questionable fitness in a knockout game is always dangerous. It would make a lot more sense if it was an indispensable cricketer, like spearhead Mitchell Starc.
But Stoinis has averaged 24 with the bat over the past 13 months in ODIs, there is no need to gamble on his fitness. That is particularly so given the availability and good form of a fine like-for-like replacement in Mitch Marsh.
The West Australian has been training and playing with Australia A for a month now. He is a proven middle order ODI batsman and a better bowler across all formats than either Stoinis or Maxwell.
Another major selling point with Marsh is his excellent ODI record against the three other semi-finalists – England, India and New Zealand.
In 26 ODIs against those sides, Marsh has scored 781 runs at 41 (strike rate of 101), while also taking 29 wickets at 25. Consistently across his ODI career he has been at his best against the strongest ODI teams.
Mitch Marsh looks for a single during an ODI (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)
There is risk involved with picking Marsh, too, that he has not played an ODI in 18 months. That is a risk worth taking to replace a struggling all-rounder with fitness issues in Stoinis. While I can see the appeal of overlooking Marsh in favour of Wade, who is in irresistible touch, such a move would leave Australia’s bowling exposed.
Maxwell’s spin was tidy against South Africa but the bottom line is he is yet to take a wicket in the tournament. If he was Australia’s only proper bowling option beyond their four frontliners it would deny them crucial flexibility.
By having Marsh as an extra bowler Australia would be far better prepared for a range of different scenarios in the field.
Against England, the most attacking batting lineup in this World Cup, Australia can’t afford to be light on bowling.
Doctor Rotcod
Roar Rookie
Did you get too close to the Sun? Mitchell Marsh Batting across 74 ODIs –– Average 36 @ SR of 93 Bowling : 44 Wickets; Average 35; SR 5.5 and 25 catches Batting across 74 T20 games Average 30 @ SR of 120 Bowling : 43 Wickets Average 27.5 ; SR 8.45 He knows a little about white-ball cricket. A little more than you..
Waxhead
Roar Rookie
@Ronan Anytime anyone mentions the name M Marsh and international cricket together I burst out laughing now. How many times does he have prove he's not good enough at either batting or bowling for the penny to drop. Is it 20 or 30 times already - I lost count cos I'm laughing so hard at people still trying to rate him as an international player.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
The conditions over all haven't really favoured spin lots, so it makes sense Maxwell hasn't been amazing with the ball. But if the conditions were more favourable for spin he could definitely have more of an impact with the ball.
thewhale
Guest
NCN instead of MM not Behrendorff...then we have 5 bowlers, and on a flat track MM is cannon fodder. Carey bats above MM anyway so no need for the batting all rounder.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
I just hope the desire to keep Stoinis isn't one of "he deserves to be given a chance to show what he can do" or similar! If there is one "no-brainer" in Australia's decision making for this WC - it's M Marsh in for Stoinis. Now.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I don't know that you need to prove all that much. A player says he has a bit of a strain that's meaning he can't perform at it's best, I reckon that's probably enough to replace them. The main rule really is that once they are replaced they can't come back. Obviously there are people within the setup who still believe that Stoinis, even at less than 100%, is still a better option than Mitch Marsh, hence doing everything they can to avoid having to replace him. I have no idea what they could possibly be basing such an assessment on though! I hope they come to their senses soon. We can't afford to carry Stoinis in the England match.
Homer Gain
Guest
As an England fan, I'd be glad to see Maxwell missing.
Gee
Roar Rookie
I would go with that line up. Marsh is obvious but with new pitches and only two games left Wade might come in instead of Handscomb for Khawaja. The form of the openers & Carey being a rock might persuade the selectors to take a chance with Wade at 3 and Smith at 4. I wouldn't, I prefer 3 & 4 to be a proper batsmen if early wickets are lost as cover for Maxwell and Marsh/Stoinis. Wade deserves a shot but not now.
JayG
Roar Rookie
Who are you backing to win tomorrow's semifinal Ronan?
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Australia A in their first four-day game are cruising at 0-102 after rolling Sussex for 263. Pattinson took 4-60 and now Harris is 49* and Burns 43*
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
Maxwell has been a big disappointment for me in this WC.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Handscomb is a better batsman than Wade...a proven better player at this level.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
NCN's last game he was equal with Starc as our most economical bowler.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
They did...those that got a bat. How many of them do you think got to bat?
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Form and performance has nothing to do with what side of the bat one stands.
Jero
Roar Rookie
Or anyone else other than Hazlewood in the Australia A team for that matter, Wade and Handscomb included. And what bearing does the possibility of a rainy afternoon in Birmingham play, if being able to go the tonk on a small ground in the event of fewer batting overs being a factor under Duckworth Lewis? It seems that it will rain for a few hours in the afternoon, with around 5mm anticipated. Throw in time further time lost while ground staff get the ground ready for play. Do you want a dasher or an accumulator in for Khawaja, if his replacement might only be in for 5 to 10 overs? I think they’ll leave the call as late as possible.
Cricket fan
Guest
Ronan sir, I am thinking a bit different and that is can AUS play both handscomb and Wade and chip in 2 or 3 overs from Wade for 25-27 runs because I heard somewhere he is not that bad and can bowl 2 or3 overs if it happens because I don't think stoinis will do any better than Wade, look at his bowling against RSA with Maxwell throwing down all his overs he did only 3 overs for 22 so, my view is that if AUS want only 2 or 3 overs from stoinis than it could be Wade and smith together and AUS will gain lot of in terms of batting because stoinis is no 8 batsman in this AUS batting line-up
Fox
Roar Guru
It's a good side you have chosen and I like the batting order but with Maxwell adding not much at this WC and Australia's lower order not doing a hell of a lot with bat either - that has the makings of long tail against England. Starc was off the boil in one of his infamous wayward spells in the last game against the SA top order so one hopes he brings his A-game - but he sometimes does go off the boil for more than just one game and especially if batsmen get after him. You would have to fancy England in this one but whoever bats first may get a decided edge - in both games to be honest.
Jero
Roar Rookie
Ronan, I think it’s a bit rich to suggest that anyone here, all of whom it seems have followed recent domestic, international and touring series pretty closely, is even making that case. No one’s looking at the Australia A tour in isolation, either explicitly or implicitly. We all know what Wade has achieved domestically. We all know what Handscomb achieved in ODIs against India in March (5 ODIs for a 47.20 average at 92.18). If anything, it seems to me that you’re drawing the distinction that Wade got recent runs against weak attacks in support of your own argument, rather than that anyone’s depending on them in support of theirs. We’ve all seen him take on teams in the Big Bash and pile on Shield runs quickly. The Australia A runs basically show that he’s sustained his high performance level over an eight month stretch. But even though calls for Wade’s selection are not solely based on his Australia A tour performances, they actually are still relevant (otherwise why would you in this very article be praising Cricket Australia for arranging for the tour to coincide with the World Cup in order to ensure that we had form players in reserve to choose from among?). And as Jeff points out, while there are different metrics in support of different cases, the immediate relevance of the Australia A stats is the major difference in Handscomb’s and Wade’s scoring rates. In an earlier article posted on 15 April you stated, “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”. At this juncture, I think you’re even more right on that point now than you were then, and that people who would pick Wade over Handscomb are simply agreeing with you: to beat England and then India, our middle order needs dynamism and a capacity to take the game on, rather than accumulate. This pretty much exactly spells out the distinction between Wade and Handscomb, as borne out by the major difference in their respective scoring rates when in peak form. Notwithstanding that the recent attacks they’ve scored against haven’t included Bumrah or Shami, nor Pattinson, Tremain, J Richardson etc, Wade takes the game on more than Handscomb, and I don’t see us winning this thing unless we do.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
It would be an interesting analysis. Certainly he has been having performances across all formats in last 12 months or thereabouts, which are putting his name forward for discussion. The four day games of Aus A v Eng A (which Wade won't be available for, unless they sub him in for the last two days) and Aus v Aus A will be interesting leading into the Ashes. Likely Wade too far down the pecking order to make first couple of Tests, but strong performances in those games could seem him in contention for later Tests if there is an opening.