Is it time for Test selectors to take a new approach?

Blood some young kids even if the team slips up we need to start regeneration.

Mind you, on that basis you wouldn't have selected Hayden, who was a Shield/home track bully, who never really proved himself at test level or overseas before that series!

Well said. Agree 100%. Can't keep carrying guys like Warner & Head in the Test XI overseas.

This is why Australians tend to thrive in South African conditions and visa versa . The surfaces both countries reward front foot aggressive stroke playing . Big strides to the pitch of the ball all good . That’s also why in South Africa , India and NZ struggle . Because of the pace of the pitch their batsmen even the very best instinctively look to get onto the back foot . Yes soft/hard hands all factor but it’s the footwork on various surfaces that is the determinant .

Overall, I agree with the sentiment expressed in the article. Australia's batting selection is often more focussed on sticking to the established 'pecking order', than selecting players suited to the conditions. If you've done well in Test cricket recently, you supposedly 'deserve' to hold your spot, regardless of conditions. I personally would be leaving Head at home for the India tour next year, regardless of how many runs he makes in the home summer. Peter Handscomb's record in Asia is far superior to Head's. Where Head gets caught on the crease against spin, Handscomb is more decisive with his footwork. I wouldn't even think about picking him anywhere else, but I think Handscomb is a strong option for Asia. To me, Handscomb and Maxwell should both be on the plane to India to compete for that final batting spot. That said, I hope Head gets another opportunity in Asia through Australia A. All things considered, he's done a good job in the Test side, and deserves the chance to improve his performances away from home. Batting in Asia is hard, and can take multiple tours to learn- just look at the contrast between Usman Khawaja's Asian record before and after 2018. Warner is an interesting one. This conversation comes up after virtually every overseas Test assignment. I agree that his overseas returns are frustrating, but I would argue that for much of his career, a lack of alternatives have been responsible for his continued selection. When you consider that most Test contenders in Australia have a First Class average in the high 30s or low 40s, is an average of 33.5 in Asian Tests really so bad? This time does feel different for Warner though. His form at Test level has been poor for a while now (home and away), and he is 35. Henry Hunt played an excellent innings for Australia A, whilst Will Pucovski (if fit) is worth another go. The upcoming home summer could be a good opportunity to ease in a new opener, before the difficult overseas tours of India and England (plus hopefully a WTC final).

I was responding to the article which named Maxwell and Henriques as players more suited to Asia than Dave Warner - and making the point that these players have a worse record in Asia than him. Maybe some of these younger players will turn out to be good. That's what A tours are for, to identify them. Jason Sangha had a good Shield season last year but had a really poor first class record prior to that. I'm a big fan but he needs to show he can do it for more than a handful of games before he gets considered for test cricket. You'd also be picking him based on a pure guess that he can score runs (a) in test cricket and (b) in Asia. Players always look better outside the team than inside it - it's easy to speculate someone would have done better without testing the theory. The players in the team are the ones who have performed best in first class cricket - who outside the team is banging down the door to be selected? Throw a bunch of kids into the test side and we would have lost the first test match here, and 3-0 in Pakistan.

Not sure why Maxwell and Henriques have to be the ones to replace Head etc There is , for example, a gifted young batsman named Sangha in NSW and a couple more kids in WA that are the next generation. Sangha should have gone to Sri Lanka instead of a couple oldies that fail or never make it into the team But cricket is the one game you don't make changes.. just keep recycling failures No imagination in selection

Horses for courses has been talked about for years but rarely implemented for the batting line up. I will go to my grave thinking that Australian would have won the 2001 series in India if Bevan or Lehman had played instead of Ponting.

This presupposes that players exist who would do better than the current crop. For example, you suggest Moises Henriques and Glenn Maxwell would do better than Glenn Maxwell overseas. Well, Dave Warner averages 34 away and Maxwell and Henriques average 26 and 23. That's ridiculously oversimplified I know, but my point is that scoring runs overseas is hard and only the very best have been successful at it. Even Kane Williamson averages 22 less away from home than at home (43 v 65), and his away average is boosted by averaging 83 in Bangladesh and 97 in Zimbabwe. The benchmark isn't how much worse you perform overseas vs at home, but whether the potential replacements would do better. In the case of Head at the moment, I suspect the answer is probably yes when it comes to Asia. His technique requires radical surgery to succeed on slow, low, turning pitches, especially against quality spin. I would have thought Maxwell was a better bet on these types of pitches, but at the same time, it's not like Maxwell has built a world beating record from the few opportunities he's had - it's still very much a speculative selection.

Well those averages on warner and head don’t lie . whilst warner has had all the opportunity he deserves overseas , head may deserve a few more but he’s not been good enough yet. I pointed this out with warner all the way back In the UK ashes that I was skeptical on whether he should tour abroad again outside of pitches that play like a concrete road , Pakistan or uae. Of course as I’ve continued to say for a while we will keep playing him abroad until there is significant failure that impacts the series but it’s clear his touring days should be limited . hoping he can score some today or else Australia will find trouble in obtaining a draw. There is no doubt a few players like Rogers and vogues have played well in uk where as others do not . head and warner are candidates for fire series there next summer . warner should not go after his last tour there being the worst opener average in cricket history (average 8 or 9 from memory for series )

Interesting discussion. But I'd offer a different perspective in the context of the last India tour of Australia. I'd say that India players like Pujara who played with soft hands, actually effectively neutered Australian conditions - remember how many times Pujara's late and soft hands approach saw his edges fall short? Versus Shubman Gill who plays at it hard and ended up seeing his edges get snapped up? Khawaja is an interesting work in progress for mine. He definitely played at the ball hard last UK Ashes 2019 and got done time and again in his desire to always see-ball hit-ball. Will be fascinated to see how Usman goes UK Ashes next year (assuming he is still going around) re his later/softer approach.