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Opinion
Australia were on the money in choosing a back-up specialist all-rounder for the World Test Championship final and Ashes campaign.
The balance of the team was off kilter for the first two matches on the Indian tour when they lost due to Cameron Green being out with a broken finger.
And now that Josh Hazlewood has again been bothered by a side strain, fast bowling depth is again an issue.
Michael Neser solves both problems but he was not chosen in the squad.
Michael Neser celebrates after a wicket against the West Indies at Adelaide Oval in December. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
The Queenslander and NSW seamer Sean Abbott, who is also shining on the English county scene, are due to link up with the 17-man Australian Test squad for a training camp before the WTC final on June 7 at The Oval which precedes the first Ashes clash nine days later in Birmingham.
Forget that – this guy is much more valuable than a net bowler. Get him into the squad now before it’s too late.
If he suffers an injury while playing for Glamorgan, the Aussies won’t have anyone in form with Test experience to call upon. Jhye Richardson has been hobbled by a dodgy hamstring and uncapped tearaway Lance Morris has a bad back.
The Aussies only selected four specialist quicks in their initial squad despite a back-breaking schedule for seamers of six Tests in seven weeks.
Team officials are adamant Hazlewood will be right for the upcoming campaign despite being sent home early from the IPL due to a flare-up of his ongoing side strain issues.
But given Hazlewood’s recent history of missing several Tests over the past two summers with this problem as well as sitting out the India tour with an Achilles injury, the selectors would rest easier at night if they added Neser to the touring party.
Neser has played all the pre-Ashes red-ball cricket he’s going to get in anyway – he switches to T20 mode in England’s Blast tournament later this week. Throwing his body around in the field, bending his back at the bowling crease … are you paying attention, George Bailey?
Even if the 33-year-old late bloomer does get called into the Australian squad, he’s unlikely to feature in the WTC final unless further injuries strike to the frontline pace quartet of Hazlewood, captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland.
But you could easily make a case that if all-rounder Cameron Green was unavailable at any stage, Neser would be a better replacement than Mitchell Marsh, who was a surprise inclusion in the squad after being out of the Test team since the last Ashes tour in 2019.
Michael Neser. (Photo by Peter Mundy/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Marsh has been dynamic for Australia’s white-ball teams in the past few years but his red-ball form is extremely limited.
His Test record was modest despite repeated chances over five years – 1260 runs at 25.2 with two tons in 32 matches with 42 wickets at 38.64 with one five-wicket haul.
He played his first Shield match for Western Australia in two years in March, scoring a century but was unable to bowl due to an ankle injury which has dogged him in recent seasons.
The 32-year-old has been bowling for Delhi in the IPL, taking 12 wickets in nine games at an impressive 14.17, to continue his limited overs purple patch.
Michael Neser bowls for Glamorgan as Steve Smith looks on for Sussex. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
But when you compare his recent red-ball resume against Neser with bat and ball, it’s not even close.
Neser chalked up 357 runs, including a century, at 35.7 for Queensland last summer while finishing second in the Sheffield Shield wicket-taking stakes (by one to Will Sutherland, who played two more games) after bagging 40 scalps at 16.67.
Unsurprisingly he was named Sheffield Shield player of the year.
He’s continued to shine in county cricket for Glamorgan with 123 earlier this week against Sussex to have 311 runs from five matches to go with his 19 wickets at 25.63, which has included a hat-trick recently and trapping Cheteshwar Pujara LBW in his last outing.
In his two chances at Test level, he’s taken seven wickets at 16.71 – it would be a shame if he doesn’t get another look-in at some stage.
If Green was injured, Alex Carey could easily slot in at six with Neser at seven before the rest of the bowlers.
Cricket commentator Adam Collins, co-host of The Final Word podcast (one of the best, if not best the sport has), is virtually spearheading the campaign for his call-up to the squad by getting #NeserMustPlay trending with regular posts to his 50,000 Twitter followers.
Australia have a history of not picking the right horses for courses in English conditions when it comes to fast bowlers.
The blueprint was laid out in the 1980s with the example of Terry Alderman, who never had express pace but could swing the ball away from right-handed batters and jag it back off the seam to bring LBW into play, just ask Graham Gooch, who dropped himself from the team due to his inability to cope.
In 1981, he 42 wickets in six Tests in his international debut and added 41 eight years later in another six-match series – 83 wickets at 19.33. Phenomenal.
Unfortunately for the new captain at the time, Allan Border, in 1985 Alderman was chosen for the tour but struck off the squad list when it emerged he had signed a deal to be part of the rebel tour of South Africa after missing out on a national contract.
After he retired in the early 1990s, Paul Reiffel and Damien Fleming were the closest Australia had to an Alderman clone.
Reiffel inexplicably missed selection for the 1997 Ashes tour but after receiving a late call-up when Andy Bichel went down with a back injury, he took 5-49 at Leeds while giving England no respite in concert with new-ball duo Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, and Shane Warne.
Fleming had been a key part of the Australian team which won 16 Tests in a row prior to the 2001 Ashes but was not selected on tour as Steve Waugh stood by the raw pace of Brett Lee, who had not yet learned how to bowl in those conditions, taking nine wickets in five Tests at 55.11.
In more recent times, the likes of Trent Copeland and Chadd Sayers have been impressive performers at Shield level in Australia who seemed ideally suited to English conditions but were never given a chance due to the baggy green obsession with blasting batting line-ups out with speed over suitability.
Which is not to say Neser is medium pace. He is not that far behind Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Boland in the speed gun standings, bowling in the 130km/h bracket rather than 140km/h plus.