When the Sheffield Shield began in an Adelaide hub earlier this year, the question among many was who’d be putting their hand up for Test selection.
Currently, the top ten run scorers have scored more than 300 runs in the competition, with only Henry Hunt (323 runs at 40.38) averaging less than 50 in the 2020-21 Shield.
The third-highest run scorer in the Shield is Travis Head with 455 runs at an average of 65. Based on that form, he’s a shoo-in for the Australian Test middle-order. But Head has looked completely clueless against the Indian bowlers this summer, scoring 62 runs at an average of 20.67 with a high score of 38.
In the seven Test series Head has played in to date, the South Australian has averaged over 40 in two series and averaging less than 35 in five series so far.
Head is just one example of Australian batsmen dominating at Shield level but struggling against international bowlers in Test cricket over the past few years, which brings me to the question: how does Australia start reproducing the quality batting depth that they have done in the past?
Travis Head has had a mediocre start to the Test series (Photo by Graham Denholm – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Simple – organise more Australia A first class matches against other nations’ A teams.
Australia needs no better introduction than seeing India’s two Test debutants at the MCG as an example of how playing A matches at first class level helps a player’s development.
Shubman Gill and Mohammad Siraj have dominated first class cricket both in the Ranji Trophy and for India A in the past few years. Rather than selecting the duo for their Ranji performances, they were given a chance to prove themselves consistently for India A and before being included in India’s Test squad.
Gill has hundreds for India A in West Indies and New Zealand. Siraj has performed well for India A in South Africa, England and New Zealand. By performing in overseas conditions for the A team, they weren’t overawed by the time their Test caps came along. Australia needs to do the same.
Get the likes of Will Pucovski, Nic Maddison and whoever else is scoring runs consistently at Shield level to play a year or two at Australia A level. Host the likes of South Africa A, England Lions and India A at home to face quality bowling. Tour the West Indies, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to face their A teams and tackle their bowlers on different surfaces.
Obviously, in a COVID-19 world and with cricket boards trying to make as much money as possible, this idea may not seem feasible. But in the long term, Australia’s bench players playing more Australia A games and performing consistently at first class level will benefit them so much more before a Test recall or Test debut.
Playing at your country’s A level in ensures players play against a higher standard than their domestic first class competitions and encourages players to perform at FC level to get an A call up before playing Test cricket.
The over reliance on David Warner and Steve Smith to score runs for Australia has been heavily exposed this series. To ensure Australia do not suffer as a Test-playing nation after their respective retirements, Australia A tours and home series are crucial. Or else, it won’t be long before other nations overtake Australia.
As Justin Langer said on The Test, “Australia has a proud cricketing history.” It’d be a massive shame if the Cricket Australia board doesn’t do what is required to ensure Australia can be a competitive and successful Test-playing nation in the future.
World cricket cannot see the demise of Australia in Test match cricket.
Coss
Roar Rookie
Great article. Very good point. There was a day where you could get the likes of Viv Richards and Ian Botham to play in the Sheffield Shield. I think making the Shield stronger can be done and will help. One point comes back to selection. I think going back to making performance in the Sheffield Shield being the key criteria for selection for Australia being earned or denied (excluding incumbents of course) will up the stakes and strengthen the competition. It used to be that every game was seen as a vital opportunity for a young prospective player. I think if the selectors stick with their guns on this merit-based policy the intensity of the competition will improve. Greg Chappell recently wrote an interesting article on some fo the shortcomings of the modern professional system. He made some really good points. Perhaps Australian cricket could benefit with an American type college system or some kind of system which helps players foster other vocational skills, so that passion to play at the highest level keeps them in the game and not economic necessity.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Add in the thousands you hear it cost to go to selection trails or rep teams.
Rohan
Roar Rookie
I always loved Garry Sobers' Way of Cricket, uncomplicated, truly practical. Art of Fast Bowling is on the money. Has Warne written on like it?
Rellum
Roar Guru
Quess which ashes they stopped doing those tour games? I'll give you a clue, it ends with a 5.
jamesb
Roar Guru
In the old days before t/20, each state would play at least one tour match against a visting test side. And the best performed state players would play for Australia xi down in Hobart. So the best sheffield shield players had two cracks at the touring side. Add to that the home and away shield season played in a variety of pitches across the country. So from that first class calendar, where a player could play up to 13 games, it was no surprise that Australia had depth in it's ranks.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
The big question is how many runs are they scoring in county. Are they scoring these on green top early season wickets or only when the wickets are flat?
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Still questioning how Santner and Astle were in the squad but no Ajaz Patel a spinner who's known to attack opposition batsmen. And then not playing Jamieson on these wickets while 130km swing bowlers in southee and henry did
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Funny thing about Burns and Sibley is that they don't play many T20s. Both have played quite a lot of FC cricket in challenging conditions
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Told so many mates that the 2018 series loss was an eye opener to how weak the Sheffield Shield is if they couldn't win a series at home just bc they lost two star batsmen. If Kohli and Pujara were to miss a home series, India would still beat opponents at home that's how solid the batting depth is for home tests
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Love Patterson but after his injury, hasn't made much runs for NSW. But, he is someone whom i feel could still tour with Australia A in the future should he start scoring runs consistently at shield level again
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Geez that's seriously worrying. I get kids wanting to have fun but this ain't the right way. Teaching kids the basic fundamentals will let them have fun
Junior Coach
Guest
Its actually more imbedded into the junior ranks than the higher levels. To give you a bit of history as a young . keen club cricketer back in my late teens, early twenties a much older team mate of mine asked me to assist him coach his sons u/10 side , he coached the technical aspects of batting and i did the bowling and fielding work (hardly suprising as he was a technically correct opening bat and i was an aggressive opening bowler). Now back then there were no "qualifications" needed other than having read "How to Play Cricket" by Sir Donald and "The art of fast bowling" by DK Lillee-which were excellent reference manuals. The first thing we taught kids was how to defend and play in the V early one before expanding the shot repertoire . On the bowling side we taught them to hit the stumps and apply pressure by drying up loose deliveries. We had an excellent side , 8 of those kids played rep cricket and 3 became grade players. We won 2 premierships in 6 seasons and had excellent competition (which is why we only won 2 out of 6 comps) -great fun. Now scroll forward a few years when i have my 2 boys wanting to start cricket . I was still a competitive A Grade club cricketer but had missed a couple of seasons due to work moves so i joined my boys at a new club and offered my services at training to help only (was a bit reluctant to coach my own kids)-OK you can run some fielding drills but if you want to assist you need to go and get a NSW Cricket coaching Certificate-so I set aside a Sunday and trotted off to the course. Well , talk about eye opener. First batting lesson-we want kids to have fun , dont worry about teaching defence, just teach them to hit the ball- WTF-next, get them to stick the front foot forward, clear the leg and slash the ball through the covers-WTF-this is the way kids will have fun and they will stay in the game. SOO-my boys are now 25 and 23-one still plays but they are part of the generation that is now coming through (apparently when my course was done it had already been in place for a few years) so any cricketer has had this nonsense foisted on them if they are 30 or under, this coaching method explains why so few can cope with lateral movement of any kind (swing, seam or spin) , why they keep getting hit in the head pulling off the front foot and why they cant build an innings against spin when solid back foot defence is needed. Bill O Reilly once said "show me a batsman who cant defend on the back foot and I will get his wicket 4 times in an over" , and I concur with this- blokes who plonk their front foot down the track are simply bunnies when the ball deviates. Fix the coaching at junior levels and maybe the game will rebuild its skill base.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
He had a shocker of a start to the season before injured though and made no runs in England last year before the Ashes. I don’t think Patterson has any reason to grumble - he was picked against the weakest attack in Australia for many years, got a ton and then stopped scoring. Left the selectors no choice I don’t agree with your thoughts on Head: But Head has looked completely clueless against the Indian bowlers this summer, scoring 62 runs at an average of 20.67 with a high score of 38. He’s looked fine but got out when set. Always been his problem - it’s infuriating for selectors
Rob
Guest
That’s because if you played for NSW you got a baggy green thrown in.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Your name indicates you are a cunning linguist
Geoff Parkes
Expert
Which makes it all the more infuriating Targa, that for the last two visits to Australia they've come in grossly underprepared and undersold themselves.
Big Daddy
Guest
Just scrolling through the posts and I don't see Kurtis Patterson mentioned despite having played only a couple of tests and with at least 1 century has been completely discarded from the squad. I know he has had an injury but the selectors are pretty quick to discard some younger players . Patterson is one and Renshaw and Maddison were quickly tried and discarded yet they persevered with Burns who had been hot and cold and young Green and Pucovski are being thrown in at the deep end . How long will they last to the selectors whims. While the selectors chop and change it will be quite difficult to lock down a spot.
Big Daddy
Guest
One of the big problems is the broadcasters agenda. Recently we had T 20 and ODI between Aus/India and none of these matches were televised, and not all BBL matches have been televised particularly when they clash with the tests so they only want to drip feed what they want and not what the public want. With such a disjointed season due to COVID you would think they would try and get as much exposure as possible.
Vishal Rajagopalan
Guest
Intense scrutiny of Australian being should have happened during the 2018 series when Smith and Warner were absent.. I can't fathom Australian teams folding up if Hayden and Ponting weren't available! There would be a katich, a Hussey or a Haddin saving the day.. why is Australia soul searching in it's own backyard against a depleted guest? can't imagine what would be the result in the first test if India wouldn't have been bundled out for 35..
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
That’s a massive difference isn’t it.