“They’ve picked the wrong Richardson,” has become a common dig at Kane Richardson from Aussie fans as he’s been selected ahead of namesake Jhye.
Now, however, the South Australian swing bowler is starting to flourish in limited-overs internationals, after initially looking out of his depth.
Comfortably Australia’s best bowler in their last T20 against South Africa, with 2-21 from four overs, Kane has built nice form in both white-ball formats.
Since the start of the Aussie summer he has played eight T20s and taken ten wickets at 19, with a sensational economy rate of 6.51.
He’s been so frugal that only once in those eight matches has he conceded more than 6.7 runs per over.
What makes that rate particularly good is that he regularly bowls at the death. It is this skill in blanketing batsmen in the dying overs that seemed to launch Kane into Australia’s T20 side.
Now he has a firm grip on that position, with the T20 World Cup less than eight months away.
As a defensive quick, Kane fits well into a unit that has two attacking fast bowlers, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, and an in-form spin duo in Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa. For now, at least, the Aussie attack is balanced and Kane is a key element.
Meanwhile, in ODIs, Kane is also starting to cement his spot in Australia’s core squad of players. From his last dozen matches he has taken 24 wickets at 26, despite all of those games being played away from home.
In that period, he has adapted to a range of different conditions, performing solidly in India, the UAE, and England.
Australia cricket player Kane Richardson (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
I must admit to having long been underwhelmed by Kane. He wasn’t overly quick or especially accurate or particularly penetrative. It wasn’t that I considered him a poor bowler, he just looked like a solid domestic player, rather than an international cricketer.
Certainly, I had the other, younger Richardson way ahead of him in the pecking order for all three national sides.
Jhye is equally accurate and swing-proficient, but has greater pace and is a more natural wicket-taker.
Unlike Kane, who was wobbly in his early matches for Australia, Jhye quickly looked at ease in international cricket. So much so that the 23-year-old West Australian shaped as a trump card in the 2019 World Cup and Ashes after a stunning start to the year.
Jhye took 17 wickets at 21 from his eight ODIs early last year and was awesome against the powerful Indian team.
Nothing underlined his quality better than his generous success against the world’s best ODI batsman, Virat Kohli. In his six ODIs against India, Jhye bowled 58 balls to Kohli for the amazing figures of 4-38.
As Jhye shone in India last year, even the home commentators were gushing over him.
Kane Richardson with the Melbourne Renegades. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Having made a fine start to his Test career, Jhye was shaping as a potential all-format star – he still is.
But then his run to the 2019 World Cup and Ashes was derailed by a serious shoulder injury he suffered while fielding in the UAE last March.
That mishap opened the door for Kane, who came into Australia’s ODIs starting XI for the last two matches of that series against Pakistan.
He has since performed well enough to keep Jhye out of the Aussie 50-over squad.
In the three-match ODI series in South Africa, which starts this Saturday, Kane looks set to compete with Josh Hazlewood for the third quick spot, supporting Starc and Cummins.
Meanwhile, in T20s, Kane has a chance in tomorrow’s series decider in Cape Town to lock down his starting positon as Australia build towards a home World Cup in October.
In a short space of time he has come a long way.
DTM
Guest
I think AJ has just come back from injury - bowled 8 overs in district cricket on the weekend. I think that was his first bowling in a match since October. Pretty sure Behrendorff broke down before the season started and hasn't bowled a ball in a match.
DTM
Guest
Definitely different selection mindsets for red ball cricket compared to white ball cricket. K Richardson, Zampa and A Agar are all specialist T20 bowlers with only Agar really getting first class opportunities in other formats. This is the way it is - just like Finch can't get a game in Victoria's shield team but captains Aust in ODI's and T20's. In fact, if you look at the T20 team, only Warner, Smith, Cummins and Starc play all 3 formats (at international level) regularly. Personally, I'd rather hold Cummins back for just tests and ODI's but then I don't rate T20 internationals as being of much importance.
DTM
Guest
Well said Josh. To be honest, I wouldn't have picked Kane ahead of Jhye or Hazelwood initially. However, since he has been in the side he has done nothing wrong and deserves to keep his spot. I'm not as confident with the death bowling of Jhye or Hazelwood - both often get smacked about and I suspect Kane has this job for now. PS I'm talking about T20 cricket here, I'm less enthusiastic about Kane for ODI's and think both Jhye and Hazelwood are better options.
redbackfan
Roar Rookie
richo 6th seamer in line for redbacks (behind sayers, agar, worrall, mennie, winter) . zampa unlikely to get selected again for redbacks, with a first-class record that is anything but. amazing the different skill sets for white-ball success. will batsman get on top of slower ball cutters and googly bowlers? (are they still playing zampa for leg-spin?)
Josh H
Roar Rookie
Likewise for you Paul. You can't claim Kane has an easy package when he bowls all the high pressure overs. That's simply untrue. You completely glossed over what is a pretty key fact here. No matter who he has bowling at the other end, you have to do a job - when very often the game is on the line. He was bowling to an inform vd Dussen and Miller the other night, both T20 stalwarts. His current T20I economy is 7.7. For someone who is meant to be a domestic-level death bowler, that's unreal. For perspective, Rabada's T20I economy is 8.5. There is nowhere in your comment you credited Kane without any caveat. You seemed to always add a if or but, and you point blank call him "underwhelming". If that's "credit", Paul, than I'd hate to hear your criticism.
Simoc
Guest
I don't mind Kane Richardson at all but we see Australia A played England A, WA is playing SA and where is J Richardson playing? Where is A Tye, where is J Behrendorff. Are they all still injured. How good are our managers.
HR
Roar Rookie
As Ryan H points out, not only were some of the possible next generation of test players playing, some of their current test players were playing: Crawley, Sibley, Bess and Overton were all in their squad when the played South Africa a few months ago.
AREH
Roar Guru
Their openers for the four-day match interestingly, were current test pair Sibley & Crawley, given Burns' injury. They play little white-ball cricket, and with the SA test series over, it was probably an idea opportunity ahead of 2021-22. The determination to hit that series prepared is obvious. Like Australia, a side several with recent test appearances, and seems their bowlers lapped up the pink ball conditions.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Yeah, not only going wicketless, but going at 4rpo. Interesting to see that as a result, they threw the new ball to Steketee in the short second innings (with a target of 20 it doesn't really matter that much I guess!)
Paul
Roar Guru
Perhaps we should give the Poms some credit, Dave. They might have some guys coming through who could be the next generation of English Test players. Perhaps not so much the bowlers, though they were too good for our blokes in the second game, but their batsmen across two games did well.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Patterson did well in the second innings, didn't get much support though other than Maddinson's run a ball 50. Has overall been a disappointing season for Khawaja. When he's out of the test and ODI sides, but still has the chance to potentially force his way back with a big domestic summer, to have probably his worst domestic summer in many years was pretty disappointing for him, and may have been the final nail in the coffin of his international career. The England Lions team did have a few "current" test players, not just past / fringe players. But even so, you'd think on paper the teams should be reasonably evenly matched. Even if they lost you'd like it to be closer. It was a D/N match, which does mean that batting first and then batting long enough to be taking the new ball not long before the lights come on that second day can be a big advantage. But can't blame that, Australia A won the toss and chose to field! I think they thought there was going to be a lot more movement around than there was.
Paul
Roar Guru
Did you read my comment Josh? I both gave the bloke some credit but also pointed out he's had 4 mates to make his job a whole lot easier.
Pete
Guest
The biggest disappointment for mine was Neser. Been on the fringe of the test squad for some time now and had a chance to prove himself against some test players and bowled poorly.
Josh H
Roar Rookie
Give the bloke some credit. How does he have an "easy passage" when he is consistently being asked to bowl in the death overs and the last over if the powerplay? Those are literally all the hardest overs to bowl. For someone who isn't really of international calibre, that's enormous responsibility, and the fact he's performed that role with aplomb against some of the best T20 teams in the world is testament to his ability to handle high pressure situations.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
True, and sounds like Pattinson played well. And it’s possible the wicket deteriorated. But it would be nice to get one over an England team with a few Test players, rather than lose by 9 wickets. Apparently this is the first time Aus A have lost to Eng A home or away.
Paul
Roar Guru
It was certainly disappointing but not too surprising IMO. Harris is not in great form, nor is Khawaja in red ball cricket while Pattinson is coming back from injury. The bowlers though should have been more impressive but giving up more than 400 is not good at all.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Bit sceptical of the advantages of K Richardson over Hazlewood, especially in ODIs, but he’s doing Ok in T20s at the moment. Not really a “swing bowler” though. For me the big news of the week was Australia A losing badly to England A in Melbourne despite having a bunch of recent Test players and others mooted as Test quality (Harris, Maddinson, Khawaja, Pattinson, Henriques, Bird, Swepson, Neser). Very disappointing.
Paul
Roar Guru
"I must admit to having long been underwhelmed by Kane." I still am. The other 4 bowlers do their jobs that well, Richardson has a relatively easy passage. He rarely in recent times, has had to bowl to a guy well set who is pounding the ball to all parts. That makes his role as a death bowler significantly easier. Yes, he's taken his opportunities but I suggest Hazlewood and Jhye Richardson could have done the same, certainly in T20s and Jhye was really missed in the World Cup, especially at the back end of that tournament, with his ability to swing the ball. As for his keeping Jhye Richardson out of the ODI team, JR has been on a slow road to recovery, with selectors not keen to push him, given his obvious potential. JR couldn't play in the World Cup where Kane was okay at best, then didn't go to India, for 3 games. It's great to see Kane Richardson doing his job, but I suspect he'll be struggling once J Richardson is back to full fitness and form.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Amazing what getting a regular game does for form, confidence and experience.
Simon
Guest
In the T20s? Nah, Hazlewood might be a good limited overs bowler but I think going with our three test quicks might be too one paced against the really good teams if we don’t take wickets. Kane is a good foil for the others