Australia’s chances of securing their first T20 World Cup title in October were boosted by the announcement of a five-match T20I series in Bangladesh in August immediately after their eight-match white-ball tour of the Caribbean.
Australia have had a drought of cricket during the pandemic, but now get a prime opportunity to finalise their World Cup squad thanks to 13 white-ball matches in about six weeks, starting from July 9.
With the World Cup to be played in either the UAE or India, the Bangladesh T20I series will be crucial exposure to lower, slower Asian pitches for the Aussie players.
Some of Australia’s key T20I players could then get further practice should they decided to take part in the rescheduled IPL, which is being slated for a September-October finish in the UAE.
Australia’s been starved of international cricket due to the pandemic – in the past 15 months they’ve played just 16 white ball matches. That’s compared to 41 matches in the 15 months previous to that.
So playing 13 matches in a such a short period of time will be enormously valuable to Australia as they try to finally settle on a middle-order for the World Cup.
Nine spots appear to be almost cemented in Australia’s first-choice T20I line-up. The five-man attack of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Kane Richardson, Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa has been consistently effective for the past two years.
(Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
As has the experienced top four combination of Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell. But in between those groups – at five and six – is a gaping hole. One of those spots needs to be plugged by a batsman or all-rounder, and the other by a wicketkeeper.
The problem for Australia is they’ve trialled many players in those roles over the past four years and none have prospered consistently. Several of those same players are in this squad.
Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis are probably the leading contenders to bat at five. Marsh has long seemed the better option given he bats in the middle order in the BBL, where Stoinis is a top-order specialist. Yet Stoinis has adapted well to a lower batting position for Australia in the past year.
In that time he’s made 214 run at 43, with a good strike rate of 147, when batting at number five or lower in T20Is. I’ve been consistently critical of Stoinis as a limited-overs international player, but those numbers are encouraging. Combined with his generous experience in the IPL, it makes him a solid option to bat five in these upcoming T20Is.
If Australia continue with their five-man bowling strategy, that could leave limited opportunities for Australia to test out all of Stoinis, Marsh and Moises Henriques, the three men vying for the number five spot.
Over the ten T20Is against the West Indies and Bangladesh, Australia should regularly rest one of their star batsmen. If they constantly rotate the members of their top six over those series, they could give at least six matches each to nine players – Stoinis, Marsh, Henriques, Matthew Wade, Josh Philippe, Warner, Finch, Smith and Maxwell.
That should give those fringe players sufficient chances to stake their claim for a World Cup spot. With Alex Carey having laboured during a long run in the T20I side, the keeping berth should be between Philippe and Wade. Although Wade, too, has greatly underwhelmed when batting down the order for Australia.
Realistically, Philippe and Josh Inglis should have been the two men challenging for the World Cup keeper spot on these tours. But Inglis was surprisingly overlooked, despite Australia picking a giant 23-man white ball squad. Unlike Carey, Wade and Philippe, Inglis has proven himself as a middle-order batsman at the domestic level, in both T20s and 50-over cricket.
(Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
Philippe should have been tried at five or six in his debut T20I series in New Zealand earlier this year. Instead he played all five matches in the top three, despite Australia having already nailed down those batting positions. It was a wasted opportunity to see whether Philippe’s 360-degree game and aggression against spin could translate to the middle order.
Australia can’t make the same mistake on these upcoming tours. They need to focus on solving the middle-order weakness that has plagued them for years.
Australia’s squad for the tour of the Caribbean
Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Tanveer Sangha, D’Arcy Short, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner and Adam Zampa.
Australia’s schedule for the tour of the Caribbean
First T20: July 9 in St Lucia
Second T20: July 10, in St Lucia
Third T20: July 12 in St Lucia
Fourth T20: July 14 in St Lucia
Fifth T20: July 16 in St Lucia
First ODI: July 20 in Barbados
Second ODI: July 22 in Barbados
Third ODI: July 24 in Barbados
Clear as mud
Guest
Smith has one 50 in his last 11 innings. I'm not sure that's good enought at #3 to be "a lock"?
Prez
Roar Rookie
how many teams are going to play 3 quicks? Must select players can can take on the spinners, otherwise we'll get bogged down in the middle overs and leave too much to middle order at the end of the innings.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
I think it's now because we are getting domestic cricket televised (BBL) and we tend to forget those performances arent from previous televised internationals only.
Patrick
Roar Pro
I think those numbers are a touch misleading. Smith has batted 5 times at number 4 in T20 International cricket- hardly a significant number. In the IPL, he averages 35 at number 4.
Patrick
Roar Pro
For some reason I thought he had batted a bit more than that. Nonetheless, based on his performances domestically, and in ODI cricket, I would have expected better than an average of 12 from 14 completed innings.
Simon
Guest
Didn't watch this year's half IPL but in the 2020 IPL Stoin changed his stance to deeper in the crease and was an absolute gun finisher, regularly wacking it out of the park without requiring his usual 15 ball entree. If he can't produce that Mitch is a good option. As far as keeping goes, the answer is so clearly Inglis. He's been in unbelievable form and his role is literally the role we want. Wade and Phillipe are both talented players though and if they are in form they'll do
mrrexdog
Roar Guru
Smith really needs to be batting at 3, he averages 39 when batting 3, compared to 20 when batting 4. Doesn’t make sense to bat one of your key players out of their best position to fit in an extra opener. We did this with the odi world cup in 2019, Smith got pushed down to 4 to accomodate Khawaja at 3 and it didn’t work.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
This is the first time I have heard about the Aus coming to Bangladesh in Aug. great news of course, but there are couple of concerns. The covid numbers here are again on the rise. Middle of May we had Eid ul Fitr. Now millions of people live in Dhaka for work or study purposes but their roots are in villages in different parts of the country. Despite repeated requests from the government a large portion of these people left Dhaka prior to Eid and then returned spreading the disease. There is Eid ul Azha in late July, so another surge in Aug is not unlikely. Even if the Covid remains controlled, the monsoon rain may have the final say.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Carey has 18 innings with 4 not outs in 30 T20I's. That's the criteria for judging success or failure now, is it? Jees, the world really is on fast forward now!
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
The criticism of Stoinis is he's slow and can't translate to the middle order. The figures Ronan quoted, albeit small sample size given the lack of recent game opportunity, probably indicate he's in the box seat. Good point about rotating players thru lead up games. Sure there'll be criticism if a candidate makes a score at 3 against the Bangers, as to suitability at 5, but getting a hit is the most important priority at the moment!
The Late News
Roar Rookie
nah...not an emoji kinda fella Paul. Shows my age perhaps?
Paul
Roar Guru
so you were the other bloke who kept applying for MY job? Where's that angry emoji? :happy:
Patrick
Roar Pro
I tend to agree that a rotation policy is the best way to establish the ideal XI. I hope this also involves testing Finch down the order, which could solve the keeping problem by allowing Wade or Philippe to open. Another option would be to push Smith to 4 and Maxwell to 5, allowing the keeper to come in at number 3 if a wicket falls in the powerplay. They listed Wade at 3 in the first T20 vs India last summer, but after Short and Finch batted out the powerplay, he ended up sliding to 6. I don't mind the idea of Wade or Philippe playing as a third opener, but then sliding down the order if no wicket falls early (In Wade's case he could even slide as low as 7). Inglis' omission is puzzling, given his performances in the middle order for the Scorchers- he's signed to play T20 Blast for Leicestershire, so maybe he was left out for the same logistical reasons as Labuschagne (but the Blast hasn't started yet, so surely they could have changed his plans). I find Carey's failure in the T20I format strange, given his success as a lower order batsmen in ODIs. He also batted pretty well in his stint at number 4 for the Strikers, but hasn't managed to translate the success to internationals. As for the non-wicketkeeper spot, I think Stoinis' improvement has been impressive, and he is probably the most likely to get the role. I think much of his improvement down the order can be attributed to his time in the IPL, where he has performed strongly batting at 5 and 6. It's a pity there's no Dan Christian, but I don't begrudge Stones, Marsh and Henriques the opportunity. On another note, it's a shame that Daniel Sams has struggled with the ball at international level. His late order hitting could be a real asset to the team, but there's no justification for picking him as the third seamer, given the calibre of the other bowlers.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Couldn't help myself Paul!
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Tom I truly understand your position. I spent 40 years waiting patiently for the selectors to call me into the team. I finally came to terms with the fact that (well in my opinion at least) that they had no idea what they were about. Gees I would have done a great job...making absolutely certain that the beers were a) plentiful, and b) at the correct temperature. But no. They have consistently ignored my talent for a long time now. It used to keep me up at night, but like I said I have come to be at peace with this. One day you might also cease being violently I'll too. Until that day....
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Ronan I tend to agree with you on this one. Thanks!
Paul
Roar Guru
I think you make a very good point, that these series are a great opportunity to try guys in different positions. That should also apply to the top 4 as well, particularly Warner & Finch. Yes I know the argument they are a great opening pair but Finch at least, is very capable down the order. That being the case why not give someone else a go at the top, when scoring's way easier and play a good hitter like Finch at 5 or 6?
Tom
How are spuds like Stoinis and Short even getting picked? It makes me violently ill when I think about Inglis's omission, he doesn't even need to keep (even though he is a better gloveman than Carey and Philippe). Just get him in the middle order!