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Opinion
It wasn’t quite an endless summer but Australia have finally come to the end of one of the most hectic seasons on record which was mostly successful but fell short of their expectations.
There is a brief respite over the next couple of months for most members of the men’s teams before another jam-packed schedule over the next 12 months which culminates in the T20 World Cup.
Several Australians will remain in India after Wednesday night’s victory in the deciding match of their three-game ODI series for the IPL while many top-liners will put their feet up over the next couple of months.
And they deserve a break after a summer that started in September with a couple of white-ball series in northern Queensland against Zimbabwe and New Zealand, a failed T20 World Cup campaign at home, another meaningless three-game ODI stoush with England, five home Tests dominating the West Indies and South Africa, a rare BBL sojourn and the hyped-up tour of India.
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It all starts up again with the June tour of England featuring the World Test Championship and Ashes series before white-ball tours against the South Africans and Indians before the third major trophy Australia will be chasing for the rest of this year goes on the line at the ODI World Cup in October.
The Australians train session at Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
There’s even another five T20s thrown into the mix in India after the 50-over World Cup before three home Tests against Pakistan and two more against the West Indies (again).
A two-Test, three-T20 tour of New Zealand, the first time Australia have visited their nearest cricketing neighbours since 201?, will be sandwiched into the schedule next February-March before the game’s shortest format holds its biennial World Cup in the US and West Indies next June.
Australia’s lofty goal is to be the world’s best team in all three formats – they surrendered the T20 trophy over the summer but could get the Test one in a couple of months while they will be one of the favourites to claim the 50-over crown later in the year.
They deserve favouritism for the World Test Championship final against India at The Oval in June after dominating the two-year qualifying cycle.
But they’re not destroying all in their path like previous champion teams – the weakness in India and potentially England later in the year is holding this squad back from becoming revered in the manner of the sides from a generation ago.
Pat Cummins leads his team off the ground after they were defeated by India on day three of the Second Test at Delhi. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
The Test team has gone 11-3 with five draws since Pat Cummins took over as captain 18 months ago but tellingly, those three defeats were all on turning wickets – once in Sri Lanka last year and the recent 2-1 defeat in the failed bid to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy recently in India.
Even if they beat India in the final, there will be a lingering asterisk against this team to suggest they’re very good but not necessarily great.
Not all the time, but for the most part they tend to go with what – or maybe more accurately, who – has worked in the past.
Chief selector George Bailey, panel member Tony Dodemaide and coach Andrew McDonald pulled the wrong rein by sticking with Aaron Finch as white-ball skipper.
The struggling veteran’s form slump led him to retire from the 50-over format at the start of the summer and that should have been the time for his shoulder to be tapped about calling time on his T20 international career as well. Finch’s middling form wasn’t the only reason Australia lost their T20 World Cup title defence but the lack of a reliable option at the top of the order was an ongoing issue because David Warner also faltered.
Aaron Finch (Photo by Chris Hyde-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
The sun should have set on Warner’s career, at least at Test level, this summer at home. Politely speaking, it was optimistic to think he could succeed in India after two previous tours of mediocrity.
To be less polite, it was madness and made the selectors seem like they were afraid to do the dirty side of their job by making a tough call on a washed-up legend who is railing against the light.
If he continues in the white-ball arena, it could be explainable but the 36-year-old’s place in the Test side cannot be justified by his record over the past three years – 914 runs at 29.48, greatly inflated by his only century, the MCG double ton against the Proteas.
David Warner walks off after he was dismissed by Mohammed Shami. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Just when we thought Australia were facing a post-Shane Warne style spin shortage in the coming years when Nathan Lyon finally retires, two young stars step up after getting their … turn.
Off-spinner Todd Murphy and left-armer Matt Kuhnemann were the finds of the Indian tour from an Australian perspective.
They both have the control required at the international level, get a decent amount of turn and were not fazed one bit by the occasion – Test spinners who make their debut in India are often quickly chewed up and spat out but, aided pitches that must be said were helpful, the rookie duo more than held their own alongside the world-class quartet of Lyon, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel.
He’s a unique customer in modern cricket when specialisation in all three formats seems to be on the rise.
Whether he’s opening or in the middle order in any format, he pretty much plays the same way.
It’s a luxury the Australians can afford when the likes of Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green are rock solid around him.
Mitchell Marsh is playing with that sort of freedom in the white-ball arenas too where it doesn’ particularly matter if he’s opening, first drop or down the order, he’s also backing his ability to play his natural game.
Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are spreading themselves too thin by trying to maintain a fast bowler’s workload across three formats.
Hazlewood has played just four Tests in the past 18 months due to injuries and a few spinning wickets while Starc and Cummins have been more durable but still missed matches with strained thighs and broken fingers.
As they try to extend their careers deep into their 30s, the prolific pace trio need to focus on a couple of formats at the most. That would give the selectors greater clarity and it would be easier to generate momentum in the white-ball teams in particular if the team had consistency around who was in the attack.
The development of players like Scott Boland, Nathan Ellis, Michael Neser, Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson (when he’s not injured) is being stunted by only being selected here and there in the various formats.
When a fast bowler reaches their mid 30s, the end of their career can literally happen overnight when the physicality of the role takes its toll – not every seamer can become James Anderson and Stuart Broad into their late 30s and if they do, like those two, they need to be judicious about how much they play.
There is one more significant match to be played on the home summer for season 2022-23 (it’s hard not to write that and not hear Richie Benaud’s voice enunciate it as only he could).
Unless Victoria can stage a remarkable upset at the WACA Ground when the Sheffield Shield final gets underway on Thursday, then Western Australia will become the first state to successfully defend the domestic trophies in all three formats.
NSW may have the most trophies in the cabinet and Cricket Australia’s head office is in Melbourne but WA is the epicentre of success at the moment.
Ashton Turner cuts away from Jimmy Peirson in the BBL final. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
All-rounder Cameron Green is the only West Australian who is a regular in the national team in all three formats while Mitchell Marsh is virtually an automatic selection in the limited-overs squads.
Experienced opener Cameron Bancroft, as the Shield’s leading runscorer by the length of the WA coastline, should be recalled to the Test team for the tour of England while fellow batters Ashton Turner and Teague Wyllie, all-rounder Aaron Hardie, keeper Josh Inglis, and speedsters Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson and possibly Joel Paris will be pushing for higher honours over the next couple of years.
With NSW winless in the Shield and no obvious international prospects stepping up, the West is definitely now best.