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You’re right in that Renshaw has had a better Aus A series (two tons including one in NZ), and he has had a couple of ok Shield seasons. Bancroft’s record in the Shield, though, cannot be denied. Renshaw’s versatility seems to have gotten him the position, which I can accept.
Picking apart the selectors’ choices in the Bailey era: Masterstrokes tarnished by blunders as Australia face future upheaval
What’s Harris’s average in comparison, then, cause he did well in 2x County Championship series, well in last year’s Shield comp, and made a ton for the PM’s XI against Pakistan? I’m no fan of him opening, but it seems that he was bit stiffed in all of this too.
Picking apart the selectors’ choices in the Bailey era: Masterstrokes tarnished by blunders as Australia face future upheaval
Paul, you left out the complete and utter foolishness of not selecting Michael Neser for ANY of the Ashes Tests when it was clear that at least one (or more) of the Big 3 needed a rest, Lyon was injured and Boland was well below his barnstorming best. Neser, along with Bancroft, has had one of the best 2 years in Shield/County cricket (in Neser’s case, both with bat and ball) that it’s completely inconceivable that they left him out of the Ashes Tests entirely!
Picking apart the selectors’ choices in the Bailey era: Masterstrokes tarnished by blunders as Australia face future upheaval
Yes, people have short memories! I’m all for Cam Green batting at no. 4. In fact, I think he’s probably the most qualified candidate (other than Smith) to bat at 4. I do worry about what’s going to happen in 3 years time when the likes of Khawaja, Smith, Starc, Boland, maybe Hazlewood, etc. hang up their boots from the red ball game. If you’ve not blooded young players, it’s hard for them to come in and make a difference straight away in a pressure-filled environment.
That’s why we needed to pick Bancroft (who’d still be playing in 3 years time, most likely) as the form player and Renshaw (who’d only be 30 in 3 years time) as the longer-term options.
From that point, you can start getting guys like McSweeney, Aaron Hardie and others around the squad to get them accustomed to what the international red ball level is like.
There's no rush - Australia don't need to put pressure on Green's shoulders
Thanks, Gordo. Yes, I do fear for him at no.4 for those very reasons. WI doesn’t have a great bowling attack, but they can still bowl good balls (heck, the CA XI was rolled for 174 and there were a number of good balls in there). If he doesn’t go out and make 50+ against the Windies, then I think he’s only going to struggle even more.
The other question is, how long can Mitch Marsh maintain this tear that he’s on? If he and Green start struggling at the same time…?
There's no rush - Australia don't need to put pressure on Green's shoulders
Agree. However, sometimes putting a player back into a T20 environment can help unlock whatever negative thoughts they’ve put into their heads in the international arena. Sometimes just the freedom to play however you want without the added pressure of the international stage helps the player to relax and can do wonders for them.
There's no rush - Australia don't need to put pressure on Green's shoulders
Of course he would! But he’s a professional cricketer. That’s his job. I just think that he’d benefit with some time away.
There's no rush - Australia don't need to put pressure on Green's shoulders
Sometimes putting a player back into a T20 environment can help unlock whatever negative thoughts they’ve put into their heads in the international arena. Sometimes just the freedom to play however you want without the added pressure of the international stage helps the player to relax and can do wonders for them.
There's no rush - Australia don't need to put pressure on Green's shoulders
Very well said, BG. Harris wouldn’t have been my first (or any number) pick, but yes, if he’s been the anointed replacement by Davey himself and has been the one constant in the squad, then yes, it makes sense that he would’ve been in there.
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
George Bailey was a selector’s captain’s pick. It was too soon for him to be in the role after he retired. Andrew McDonald, the coach, shouldn’t be involved because then whom could they trust.
The messages it sends to the Test prospects are horrible! Think about a guy like Nathan McSweeney. He’s apparently being groomed to be a future Test captain, yet he’s nowhere around the team. Why wasn’t he in the frame for selection in the middle order if Smith moves up?
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
Exactly! The best example that I can think of for this is when Neser made his Test debut. He and Jhye Richardson bowled really well in that match and both, with injuries to bowlers and uncertainty around the squad, should have been in contention to retain their spots in Melbourne. However, they apparently had “General Soreness” (which I get all the time after my club games) and were not considered. A bloke named Scott Boland made his Test debut and the rest was history. It always seemed to me like “general soreness” was code for “thanks for playing, we had no choice but to play you, but we don’t want you in the actual side anymore.”
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
I can’t stand the selectors’ intransigence and constant pandering to whatever Captain Pat wants. Keeping it all in-house also doesn’t work. It reeks of the scene in the Wizard of Oz when the Wizard is discovered and says, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” It seems, effectively, that if Pat wants something, he gets it. Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Border, Taylor none of them ever got everything exactly their way. I could see glimpses of it when Tim Paine was in the seat (remember their insistence on playing all 3 big quicks plus Lyon for all 5 Tests against India in 21/22? We all know how that ended for them in Brisbane), but it seems to be worse now than it was then.
When it all comes crashing down when India come here and beat us again, or the Poms figure out a decent side for Aussie conditions (i.e. Olly Stone & Mark Wood & Jofra are all fit and firing and actually take the Aussie batsmen on) and come here and beat us again or Warner releases his tell-all or something like that. Yes, I think Patty’s days are numbered, and I’d be thinking really hard about starting to transition guys like Starc, Khawaja, Smith, Hazlewood, etc. out of the side because they’re all going to retire in the next few years.
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
Nah. Just incessant Home and Away ads.
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
Last year’s Ashes, they settled with only a couple of guys who’d played County cricket beforehand (Marnus and Smith) and the one bloke who’d been killing it all Shield season and County season (Neser) couldn’t get a look in! If Neser had played, I think Australia would’ve been a lot closer to winning the Ashes rather than drawing.
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
Personally, I think it’s brilliant timing with the T20 World Cup having just finished up in the US. At least people should know what cricket is by then. I am asking a lot of Americans to do that, though.
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
Great questions, and I have no idea about the answers to any of them. A start, though, is sending coaches over to those nations to train cricketers who can then come and play in our grade/Shield/BBL sides and gain greater exposure to international players and standards. Coaches create and oversee pathways and help establish national training centres and the like. You have to play the long game, and it’ll take more than 5 days to establish!
That said, on Afghanistan, why haven’t they had their Test status revoked like RSA did back in the 80s?
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
Which one? I6/3 or I4/5?
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
Agree, which is why that doesn’t make sense. Tonga is in WCL Division 8 anyway, so yes, bring them up by all means. And dead right about Afghanistan! But why not allow Rashid or any of the other men’s (or women’s) players to come and play in our competitions? Why not sponsor them to come and play for a state Shield side? Rashid or Mujeeb or any of those guys would be a handful on a turning Adelaide Oval deck.
Similarly with PNG, they have players like Chris Amini who’d do well in QLD grade cricket or Vanuatu who used to have relationships with the grade system in Victoria and would send their best players to play over there. We can invest in those sorts of things and prioritise them coming up through the grade ranks into, say, the BBL or even into Sheffield Shield sides or something like that to give them greater exposure to a higher level of competition.
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
Agree! That Henriques supported him was worse!
Tom Curran’s umpire act is worse than it appears - and the game cannot tolerate it
I still have plenty of friends who refuse to follow the Australian cricket team until Warner, Smith and Bancroft are gone from the scene and until Cummins is no longer captain. I guess they’ll be waiting a long time! Plenty of people that I’ve discussed Warner with never wanted him representing them on the highest stage again, so I don’t think it’s just a “significant minority”. Agree, though, that much of the commentary was over the top initially especially the comments from the King of Confected Outrage, Malcolm Turnbull.
Grabbing a cold one: What I'd like to discuss with David Warner
Thanks, Craig. You’ve encapsulated most of what I wanted to ask him as well. I’d have the same questions around Cape Town and I hold to the gravity of that situation as well.
Grabbing a cold one: What I'd like to discuss with David Warner
Well said, Paul. However, the “Big 3” nations should be prioritising investment into smaller nations in similar fashion to the NRL and other international football (soccer) clubs do to help bring up the standards in those Associate nations. Australia, for example, has a connection with Vanuatu Cricket which has reaped dividends for their ascension into the WCL Division 3 from Division 8. NZ Cricket has worked there in the past as well.
How Test cricket can shake off five stages of grief to not only survive but soldier on for another 150 years
Here’s a solution. Make the top 20 nations Test playing nations. Award monetary prizes (allotted from T20 riches) to nations that win bilateral series against each other. Force the top 3 nations in the world to play EVERYBODY (even Afghanistan, Ireland and the other smaller nations who would become Test nations under this scheme). Sure, there would be plenty of lopsided contests, but if the likes of Uganda and the UAE can get into the T20 World Cup where they get money for merely participating, what could they do if they were awarded financial benefits for beating the West Indies or Zimbabwe or Bangladesh in those international qualifying competitions? Plus, the more money the make, the more talent they can train.
The ICC should really be paying for Test standard production in every single country (especially with the forced use of the DRS now), and they should be the ones pushing Test cricket to survive.
Talk is cheap: Only real investment can stop Test cricket ending up like rugby league
Genuine remorse? What’s that? Does any cricketer have that? 😂 With that said, I wholeheartedly agree with your comments. Nobody’s bigger than the game (even if some try to be).
Tom Curran’s umpire act is worse than it appears - and the game cannot tolerate it
Makes it even more egregious! Can’t believe he wasn’t even in the original squad.
Picking apart the selectors’ choices in the Bailey era: Masterstrokes tarnished by blunders as Australia face future upheaval