Defining moments are strange things. Some people call them ‘Sliding Doors’ moments. Those moments where the benefit of hindsight provides you with the two separate paths that lay before you.
Steve Waugh had such a moment back in 1999. In a test series that was surprisingly in the balance, Waugh made the decision to drop Shane Warne who was not long back from shoulder surgery and struggling. But off the back of being dumped, Warne went on to reignite his career and turn in some amazing performances with the ball as Australia came from nowhere to win the 1999 World Cup.
It was a decision that had real ramifications for Australian cricket. A tough decision that Waugh is now lauded for making but at the time was questioned. A similar decision now sits in front of Pat Cummins.
Love him or hate him, David Warner will go down as a great of Australian cricket and will be remembered for twenty-plus test hundreds. The look on Cameron White’s face all those years ago when Warner went ballistic in that T20 game at the MCG will become iconic with Warner’s arrival.
A brute of a cricketer at his best, in Australia where the bounce is true and he could trust his skills, he was at times unbeatable. The thing is though his time has come, and Cummins needs to show that he can see that.
Although there are far too many times in Australian cricket where this reality isn’t obvious, no one should be bigger than the game. At any level, let alone the highest, cricketers should be judged on their performances and nothing else. Once those decisions are made it is up to those within the group to make the team the best it can be.
David Warner. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
When you’re flying you should get selected. Good form should buy you some time to prove yourself but then poor form should eventually spend all the cache you have built up. No matter who you are, there has to be a moment when your time is up and you are pushed aside. A decision that really shouldn’t be up to the individual, It should be up to the leadership.
For David Warner, that time is now.
Like Waugh all those years ago, Cummins is away from home in a high-stakes series with his back against the wall. Yes, believe it or not, the Frank Worrell Trophy was once a high-stakes series. He needs to know that selection will be vital in his efforts to reinvigorate his team to challenge in a contest that isn’t over yet. Almost, but not yet. He needs to weigh up whether his superstar veteran can come good right now or whether his alternative is actually more likely to succeed.
Travis Head is a lot like Warner. Stands on the wrong side of the bat and likes to hit the ball hard. He is no technical masterpiece but has shown a liking for being in a fight. He’s not a natural opener in red-ball cricket, yet neither was Warner all those years ago.
However, the top of the order may well be the horse he was born to ride. Often opportunity is all people need to show the world what they are really capable of and that’s what Cummins could offer Head now. Open with Head in Delhi, let him attack Shami and Seraj when the ball is hard and get Australia away to a flyer, and try to put the three spinners under some pressure with such an approach.
Travis Head. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
This of course shouldn’t mean the end for Warner unless he wants it to be. Just as it didn’t mean the end for Warne. Although it did make him think about it. If Cummins makes the decision to close one door and open another it may just be the spark that the ageing Warner needs to find form with a bang.
It could motivate him to take on Broad in the Ashes and then tee it up in the World Cup.
One of the key parts of leadership is knowing when you must lead. Cummins is in charge of a team that has to come back from a thumping. Few people outside the walls of their changerooms are giving them any hope of coming back. A leader in these situations needs to be able to see the possible futures that lay before their team. They need to then be brave enough to put their team on a path of the best possible journey.
They need to make sure they walk through the right door.
Marty
Roar Rookie
Agreed, I think we all knew that Warner was going to be picked.
JamesH
Roar Guru
I suspect Cummins already knew Warner was going to be picked when he said it, as opposed to trying to sway the selectors. He'll toe the company line because he's not a confrontational character off the field.
Simoc
Roar Rookie
Maxwell got put in at three because there wasn't one at the time, scored a ton and still got dropped.
Marty
Roar Rookie
Yeh I agree to a point and it’s fair enough that he should put his two cents worth in behind closed doors. However, when he fronts a press conference and says things like ‘well I’m not a selector but I’m pretty sure Warner will be playing’. Well that’s a different situation entirely because it’s putting public pressure on the selectors. Plus whatever you think about the JL exit one of the things that became clear is the level of influence the playing group (and Cummins in particular) holds with CA when it comes to management positions, and I’d suggest the selectors have that in the back of their mind. They’re only human after all.
JamesH
Roar Guru
It's technically not Cummins' call at all, although his view would still have weight. The captain hasn't been a selector for years.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Except Cummins isn't a selector. I don't understand why people keep placing this issue squarely on his shoulders. Yes, he undoubtedly gets a say in team selection, and in an ideal world he'd be advocating for change at the top, but the final calls rest with Bailey, Dodemaide and McDonald. This scenario is exactly the reason why Cummins (as with all captains since the middle of Clarke's tenure) isn't a selector. We don't want players picked just because there is some sort of pecking order. Cummins and Warner have been teammates for a long time, acrss different sides and formats, which inevitably makes it harder for Cummins to be objective about Warner's position in the test lineup. If it's a question about selection then it's the selectors' job to make the hard calls, not to just say 'well the captain has faith in Warner so we'll pick him'. And if they won't make those calls, then we need new selectors who will. It's also worth remembering that this habit of hanging onto guys who are well past their best has been around for a long time in Australian cricket. It's not exactly a new development in the Cummins-McDonald era.
Ben Pobjie
Expert
It's perfectly simple. Bring back Head, have him and Renshaw and Khawaja and Labuschagne all open together, pick Green plus Murphy plus Lyon plus Agar plus Kuhnemann plus Starc plus Lance Morris. Any fool could see that's the answer.
Ben Pobjie
Expert
The thing about Waugh in 1999 is that he knew that dropping Warne was temporary. Nobody believed for a second that Warne wouldn't be back in the team almost immediately. Dropping Warner now will almost certainly mean dropping him permanently, and though that's not a reason not to do it, it would only be human for the selectors to feel the weight of that decision. And it is the selectors, plural: it's not Cummins's call alone.
Kailash
Roar Rookie
All of this is moot point because Cummins already made it obvious that warner will open and trying an aggrasive batting strategy in prematch interview. So, warner will play.
boes
Roar Pro
I thought the same, Warne played for another 6+ years after 99. There is a difference between underperforming (due to injury) mid career and your career tailing off to a point that it points to retirement. Warner won't be playing test cricket until 2029. Its more aligned to the tough call on Healy but there was a gun waiting for his spot. No-one is a direct challenge for Warner's spot. All just solutions that we hope will work better. If Warner gets punted I would open with Renshaw for this series and England, re-instate Head to number 5 and handscomb goes when Green is fit.
boes
Roar Pro
Its got shades of the way Khawaja was treated.
Cam
Roar Rookie
Head has been a work in progress, in and out of the side, up and down the order and has finally found form and confidence batting at 5. The concern now is, what damage has CA and Cummins done by dropping Head out of the blue and then pitch-forking him into open the bat, where he most likely will struggle? I’d play him in his preferred role at 5. Yes he still has to face spin and yes he might not catch fire, but based on the first test, he won’t be on his Pat Molone.
Ouch
Roar Rookie
Why not give Travis a go? Warner will do sweet fa. If not, then ask Marnus to open. We are almost always 1 <20 so it's not like he can't handle it.
Brink
Roar Rookie
I find it amusing that all these reports from ex players and reporters saying this that and another and giving their opinion but done will actually name an 11 from the squad that will beat India.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I don't know what you mean but l agree with you. (I do really)
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Totally agree but where do we put him? The Australians are treading on a miasmic surface. This your is ad hockery at it’s worst. Why are the boffins paid so much? I could’ve trucked this up for 1/100th of the cost
Cam
Roar Rookie
In Nagpur, we saw Jadeja bowling in the 6th over of the match and Ashwin opened the bowling in the second innings. This wicket looks really similar and there is distinct possibility the Indians open with spin at one end and rotate their quicks at the other end (if Head opens). There simply is no escaping spin in India and thinking Travis can score a quick-fire 50 off the quicks at the top of the innings is unrealistic, particularly if he is only facing pace from one end. If we were Australia – definitely, in England – maybe, in India – probably no.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
And if l was Head I’d accept the challenge If I was Head and being asked to open I'd want a written guarantee of an Ashes tour. There's been quite a few talented Oz batters who have had their careers ended by being 'asked' to bat out of position. Otto... Wayne Phillips (SA), Greg Ritchie (Q) & Tom Moody (WA).
The Iron Dingo
Roar Rookie
Although seemingly similar situations they are quite different. Selectors reasonably sent Warne on that 1999 tour and it was a tough but correct decision by Waugh to drop a champion close to his prime (although obviously diminished by returning from injury). Warner shouldn't be there at all. Absolutely gutless by the selectors to keep him on after the WI series - should have been dropped before the start of the summer in my opinion. He was always going to have one last hurrah in home conditions but the space should have been made for Harris or Renshaw to stake a claim. Now Cummins is stuck with the worst of both worlds - an over the hill opener and no-one he can be confident in to replace him. Head at the top is a stop-gap measure at best - similarly ludicrous decision to drop him for the first Test and not give him the best chance to succeed in India while in the form of his career.
Marty
Roar Rookie
Yep it certainly was a big call from Waugh, probably best described as ‘hard-nosed’. And that’s exactly why Cummins (and the other selectors) won’t do it. As we’ve seen from the reaction to an ex-captain daring to suggest that the Australians might go about things a bit differently, that’s not the way things work anymore. The players know what they’re doing and don’t need a bunch of dinosaurs telling them what to do. The fact it worked in the past is apparently irrelevant because ‘times have changed’.