Can a relationship survive without trust? If not, Ricky Ponting and the Australian selectors have a big decision to make ahead of the Ashes. Ponting, with the sweat and grime of five days of tough Test match cricket on his brow, admitted that he didn’t throw Nathan Hauritz the ball in the dying stages of their loss to India in the first test in Mohali because he feared he’d leak too many runs.
Instead Marcus North, a part-timer at best, was given the pill and told to slow the run-rate.
Ponting went on to say that he felt the Indian batsmen had seen too much of Hauritz throughout the test and that North would be more of an unknown to them.
What the skipper really needed was an attack-minded match winner.
Hauritz returned figures for the test of 3 for 161 off 38.1 overs. That’s 4.22 runs per over for the match. His figures for the first innings were 2 for 116 off 29.1 overs while in the second he snared 1 wicket off 9 overs while conceding 45 runs.
My guess is that it was his performance in the second innings alone that cost him the chance to be a match winner. Having an average of 5 runs an over taken off your main spinner isn’t ideal, but it’s far from a disaster.
Ponting’s decision was justified by North producing a more economical none for 8 off 4 overs, but watching a part-timer do the job you were selected for must have been taxing for Hauritz.
The Queensland born tweaker, for all his many critics, had a strong finish to the last summer. His career statistics aren’t too bad. 16 tests and 60 wickets at an average of 32.91 and best figures for an innings of 5 for 53.
It’s his economy rate of 3.04 runs per over that has made him a favourite with coach and captain, though.
But if the economy rate slips will the Australian selectors, who have been so reluctant to drop him, have the courage to do so before the Ashes? And is there a ready-made replacement in the unlikely event that they do move him on?
The answer to both questions is a cautious maybe.
First of all, the best spinner in the country, Jason Krejza, has had his confidence smashed into a thousand tiny pieces, dust busted and thrown in the bin. I have no doubt that had the selectors persisted with the 27-year-old he would have been able to bring his economy rate down and would now be a world class bowler.
Krejza snared 12 for 358 on debut against India in Nagpur in November of 2008. He was a national hero for taking those dozen scalps, but Ponting was more concerned with the 358 part of the equation.
In his second and last test before being dropped, match figures of 1 for 204 off 49 overs against South Africa in Perth proved to be the final straw. But that WACA wicket was like an airport runway and Shane Warne himself would’ve struggled.
I don’t believe we’ll see him in a baggy green again, but had he been given the chance to prove himself in that transitional period I think the team would be better off now.
The other serious option is the new wonder boy of Australian cricket, Steve Smith.
His bowling is probably still not ready, although it remains to be seen how much improvement he made during the winter. His biggest asset is confidence. He believes he can get the job done with the ball and possesses breathtaking skill with the bat.
Would it be too harsh to blood him during the Ashes? Perhaps.
But imagine if they do and he does well. The boost that would give him would be immeasurable. It could be the start of what should be a long and successful career under the baggy green.
It is a risk, but a risk worth taking.
So it all comes down to trust. I think in the coming months we’ll see just how big a part it plays in a relationship.
You can follow luke on twitter @luke_doherty and on Sky News Australia.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Bangladesh's Tanzid Hasan paid the price for thinking he could come down the pitch on the opening ball of the innings, mis-hitting it back…
Usman Khan came off second best after running into Shaheen Afridi who took the catch to dismiss Ireland's Mark Adair.
Durham's Paul Coughlin had no time to react before sticking the arm out and hanging onto it sidehanded.
Heartbreak for Scotland and Chris Sole!
When Glenn Maxwell was comprehensively bowled by a sensational delivery from Mark Watt, Scotland seemed on the verge of their greatest victory ever. Needing…
Boy, will England hate seeing that!
