Matt Wade is a big chance to open in the first Test against India, based on comments by Australian coach Justin Langer yesterday, as part of a strategy that wouldn’t be as strange as it first seems.
Meanwhile, veteran Indian quick Umesh Yadav looks set to replace the injured Ishant Sharma at Adelaide tomorrow.
Here are two key talking points ahead of the series opener.
Wade a big chance to open the batting
Langer yesterday stated young all-rounder Cameron Green would debut tomorrow if passed fit, and that Marnus Labuschagne would remain at three, indicating Wade may well open.
With David Warner and Will Pucovski injured, and incumbent Joe Burns floundering (62 runs at seven in first-class cricket this summer), Australia’s opening options are dire. If Green plays, Australia may pair Wade with Marcus Harris, who has 446 runs at 74 against the red ball this summer.
It would be a major shift for Wade, although not quite as drastic at it may appear at first glance. While Wade’s been positioned at five in Tests for Australia, he’s been promoted to the top order for Tasmania in the last two Sheffield Shield seasons. Across those campaigns, batting at three or four, Wade has made 562 runs at 62.
Known as an aggressive shot maker, the 32-year-old has adapted to this new top-order role by displaying greater caution and patience. In those past two Shield seasons, his strike rate’s fallen to a sedate 43 as he’s focused on batting for time, in contrast to the counterattacking approach he’d employed in the middle order.
(Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Wade’s newfound willingness to grind out runs could convince Australia he wouldn’t be entirely out of his element opening against India in the first Test, before David Warner returns for Boxing Day.
This summer Wade was at first drop in all four of his Shield innings, returning scores of 83, 57*, ten and 59. Twice in those matches he arrived at the crease in the first five overs and was required to blunt the new ball. He was, essentially, playing the role of an opener. Both times he was effective.
Against WA, Wade came out after 4.1 overs and compiled a circumspect 57* from 143 balls. In his second match, he arrived after 2.1 overs against a Test-standard NSW attack of Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Trent Copeland, Sean Abbott and Harry Conway. Wade then batted for almost four hours in making 59.
Of course, none of this means Wade is well equipped to open against India’s elite pace attack, especially under lights versus a pink ball. But it’s hard to imagine he could do any worse than Burns, who from a distance appears not just out of form but also mentally shot.
Should Green play tomorrow, and Wade open with Harris, it would create a fascinating selection subplot ahead of the second Test, for which Warner is expected to return. Green, surely, wouldn’t be axed after just one match.
And if Wade was to outshine Harris he could suddenly find himself opening at the MCG also. These are strange times.
Umesh Yadav will cover the loss of Ishant Sharma
That Umesh Yadav is not an automatic pick in the Indian Test XI is indicative of their remarkable depth.
In Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin and Yadav, India have seven high quality Test bowlers in their ranks. Sharma and Kumar both are currently injured, but Yadav offers India an experienced, gifted quick capable of filling the large void left by the former.
Just like Sharma, Yadav is not the bowler Aussie fans once knew. Both of these seamers laboured in their early appearances against Australia. In fact, they underperformed against most teams for a large chunk of their Test careers.
Now, however, Sharma is the world’s most improved Test bowler, having averaged 19 in his last 20 Tests. He’s proven deadly away from home in that period, taking 53 wickets at 20, including terrific series performances in Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Yadav’s gains have been almost as great. Since the start of Australia’s Test series in India in 2017, Yadav has snared 73 wickets at 22 in Tests.
(Photo by Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)
The 33-year-old’s become the exact cricketer India hoped for when he debuted as a raw express quick nine years ago – a natural strike bowler. In that above time period, Yadav’s produced an extraordinary strike rate of 39.
While he’s not quite as sharp as earlier in his career, Yadav still hurries batsmen with his skiddy trajectory and ability to bowl consistently above 140 kilometres per hour. What’s driven his enormous improvement has been enhanced accuracy and more consistent swing.
Yadav’s skill in curving the ball away from right handers will be key against Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Tim Paine, Cameron Green and Joe Burns, should either of that latter pair play. Bumrah and Shami, by comparison, rely more heavily on seam movement.
Yadav looked in fine nick in India’s first tour match, bowling with good pace and precision as he recorded match figures of 4-62, including the wickets of Burns (twice), Paine and Will Pucovski.
Under lights, with a pink ball in hand, Yadav has the talent to scythe through Australia’s re-jigged batting line-up.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
So a person who hasn't really accomplished what he should have by 37 should take the position of someone who really hasn't put a foot wrong and is a portent of the future. Yes, there is certain type of ball he needs to get a handle on. But overall he brings a surety of purpose to the order that S Marsh does not possess Head is tracking a Steve Waugh / Ian Chappell type trajectory and has the nous to follow those guys as a captain.
Stuckbetweenindopak
Roar Rookie
This is my first choice xi, I don’t think Head has done enough in international cricket yet to become an automatic selection, having said that in current level of competition he is definitely in my 15 member squad. I prefer shaun marsh for his experience and class
Ace
Roar Rookie
A few days ago (seems likes weeks) I was scoffed at for saying Wade could open. Apart from being biased , as a Tassy bloke , I still look back at his match against Wagner and crew from New Zealand and saw the determination to stick it out. Be nice for both if they can go to lunch in their innings without a loss of wicket. Just to frustrate the Indian attack for that period ,or more, would be a great kick start
JamesH
Roar Guru
He's been one of the top six batsmen over the last couple of months, and probably for the back end of the last Shield season. I don't think that makes it clear-cut that he's one of the top 6 in the country full stop, especially when we had six other guys playing as test batsmen. He's also a middle order specialist, and our middle order isn't in need of a fix. We're now playing another batsman out of position to accommodate him. I thought the sensible thing to do would be to open with the two guys most likely to succeed at the top (IMO any two of Khawaja, Marsh and Harris) and then keep the middle order stable for what is going to be a tough test for batsmen. Then look at bringing Green in for the more benign MCG surface, where he'll have a better chance to succeed and his bowling will be more valuable. No doubt Wade and Green will end up scoring runs now and I'll have egg on my face :silly:
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Marsh for Head? I meant to say have you got marsh for head?
Stuckbetweenindopak
Roar Rookie
To understand my point you have to go back when paine was introduced, those were desperate times as Smith and warner were banned and Wade was no where near what he is now. In nutshell you could say Paine was introduced because he had no real competitor in longer format or in other words wade’s batting didn’t give selectors confidence at that time. But after such a huge transition in wade’s batting prowess he should be hands-down replacing paine, but on the contrary and ironically paine is still captaining, and Wade is coming as a batsman..so essentially Australia is wasting two batting slots in their line-up, one is inevitable as you need a wicketkeeper, other is absolutely unnecessary, especially when you had now found a keeper who would fit in solely on his batting i.e. wade and Australia could have easilly shifted from wasting two batting positions to actually wasting none, in fact wade can be a big boost and give you much desired option of introducing one more specialist ( batter or bowler).. Instead they choose to include everyone the replacor, the replacing and the replacement which is a joke for fans and if you are a perfectionist it is painful How I see it is: suppose I have a Tonga driven by my only horse I own and one day my horse got horribly sick so I fix the situation by tying my old bull till horse gets healthy, When horse gets healthy you have two options either to relieve the bull and tie your horse or you can keep both, guess what australia is doing, they are re-introducing the horse as the should but they are now tying the bull at the rear end. My text xi in batting order would be ( including “not in the squad” and the injured) Warner Khawaja/finch Labuchagne Smith Shaun marsh Green/maxwell Wade Cummins Starc Lyon Hazlewood.
Micko
Roar Rookie
The problem is, regardless of Green’s bowling, he’s one of the top six batsmen in Australia, so thoroughly deserves his spot on merit. At some stage you have to debut new players, so why not now? There’s no guarantee Marsh or Khawaja would outperform Green anyway.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Who should be first choice?
Stuckbetweenindopak
Roar Rookie
What is mad is despite Matthew Wade in the team, there is a 2nd choice keeper batsman who is captaining the side in his late 30s.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Then there was Boon going out to open with Geoff Marsh in Sydney early 1986. Put on 217.
DJM
Roar Rookie
Re Wade, a bit of history. I was at the SCG in 68/69 when seemingly out of nowhere Australian captain Bill Lawry took Stackpole out to open with him, and dropped Redpath down the order. In fact, it was such a surprise I think they put Redpath’s name up on the scoreboard. And yet, for the next four or five years Stacky was one of the best opening bats in the world. His batting at Adelaide in the 70/71 Ashes, after Snow had destroyed Australia in the previous test, was one of the great opening batting performances I have seen. So these things can work.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Hayden was pretty rubbish by the end of his career 12 years ago.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
There should be 5 selectors not 3 and Langer should not be one of them.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Great point regarding India's pace bowling. In the past few years they've really developed great pace bowling stocks at Test level.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Alright you've convinced me Ronan. I'm keen to see Wade open now. :thumbup:
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
He was mainly 'done and dusted' from a wicketkeeping perspective to be fair. Interesting that his batting has improved significantly since he's concentrated on batting as his number one priority.
soapit
Roar Guru
and at this stage in his career if he gets dropped that may be it
JamesH
Roar Guru
I'm a bit surprised that Green has been guaranteed a start. Well done to him but with our opening combination so up in that air I thought the selectors would want the rest of the lineup to be as stable as possible. We also shouldn't need Green's bowling in Adelaide (the MCG is another matter). I would have kept 3-11 the same and just settled on the opening pair I felt was most likely to succeed. Wade as opener is an interesting option. I think he's better equipped to bat there than Finch was, since he tends to play the ball a bit later and not over-commit in his footwork. I find it a little bizarre that Marsh and Khawaja don't appear to be in the frame to partner him, though. Surely having a top order batsman with extensive international experience would be desirable in this situation? Marsh averages 40 in tests in Australia and and Khawaja 53. They've both been in good touch this summer, too.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Not so sure james for this one off test I think labs would be fine opening . We keep going back to burns or harris fact is they have been pretty poor for some time . Harris marginally better chance of getting us off to 1 for 50 plus . Wades technique can be quite poor when he shuffles accross the line fishing early on as archer and broad proved but the Aussie pitches cover up the poor technique . Ironically paine and harris opening may have been smartest move . Greens going to play I think so the chess moves are limited but if they play burns and not harris it’s a bit ridiculous and they show no real desire to follow form with Sean marsh or Alex carey being suitable back up for one test. Marsh has played very well in Adelaide and in pink ball tests there at least compared to others. Desire to be rigid for this test does not make sense considering the predicament we are in at the top . I’ll support who ever they open with of course and hope they do well but I’ll have my hands on my head if burns plays and goes cheaply and wades technique is exposed early on (he may be ok in Adelaide ) , these are top bowlers they will face . If wade can survive he’s more than capable of capitalising as he did a few times in the ashes and home decks make it easier . Not quite sure why they wouldnt let paine have a go at top for this test though
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Don’t get the fuss for one match labs can open he did it last year at adelaide as burns was out for 4 and he did it more or less in England as the openers were pathetic there . Temporary fix or if they are desperate wade or even better paine opens with harris