Robert Craddock: George Bailey unveils his steady XI for first Ashes Test
New chairman of selectors George Bailey has decided calmness and consolidation is the best way forward for Australia’s Test team, at least for now, writes ROBERT CRADDOCK.
Cricket
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Australia contemplated four bold selection moves for the first Test at the Gabba – but have scrapped the lot.
New chairmen of selectors often start their tenures with a swashbuckling signature move to notify the world of their style but George Bailey has decided calmness and consolidation is the best way forward in a turbulent era … for the moment.
Travis Head will snatch the final place in the batting order in Australia’s Steady As She Goes XI for the Ashes opener.
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Josh Inglis has had a star beside his name as a wicketkeeper of enormous potential but the serene Alex Carey, hanging on like a Melbourne Cup frontrunner getting swamped in the last 50m, has been rewarded for his sustained solidity over the past three years.
Jhye Richardson launched a withering tilt at Mitchell Starc’s spot as the No.3 seamer but the selectors feel Starc’s quality will get him through and the debate over his future seems to have put an acorn on his saddle.
Looking for all the world like a man with a point to prove, Starc was the talk of Ian Healy Oval at Saturday’s practice session in which he livened up Marnus Labuschagne with some ferocious sharp lifters.
Fieldsmen roared as if they had just seen a massive hit in an NRL game and his fellow quicks were chuckling and seemed excited by how good he looked. Even if he wasn’t in the team beforehand – and he was – you simply couldn’t leave Starc out on that form.
Khawaja had two irons in the fire as he contended for the opening and No.5 spots. He was ruled out weeks ago from the opening spot, which will go to Marcus Harris, and will now be pipped by Head.
Age played a part in it. Head, 27, is seven years younger than Khawaja and the panel has decided that in a 50-50 call the younger man should get the nod.
Bailey has proven himself to be his own man by ignoring a string of big outside voices calling for Richardson, Inglis and Khawaja to play.
Time will be the judge of his decisions but this team could change quickly if it doesn’t fire.
Bailey has at least sent the message to his team that pecking orders do matter and, if the panel rates you, they will try and give you the chance to find form.
Head’s Test average of just under 40 is solid but he has averaged 27 or fewer in three of his past four series and this is shaping as a defining summer for him.
The national selectors have always had a soft spot for Head but craved more improvement from his game.
At times when they have dropped him, it has been as much about throwing an acorn on his seat to try and rouse him to great heights as any suggestion that he lacked the talent.
STARC, HEAD TO WIN RACE FOR LAST ASHES SPOTS
- Ben Horne
Mitchell Starc and Travis Head are set to book the final two places in Australian’s Ashes line-up for the first Test at the Gabba.
News Corp understands Starc has the backing of selectors to keep Jhye Richardson at bay, while in a tighter contest Head is favourite to get the nod as the No. 5 batsman ahead of Usman Khawaja.
National Selector George Bailey made it clear when he named the Ashes squad a fortnight ago that he wanted to give players certainty heading into the first Test and Australia is presenting as a settled outfit despite their rain and World Cup interrupted preparation.
Head and Khawaja have both been in bumper form to start the Test summer, but the South Australian – fresh from a century in his last start – is the younger option at 27 and is well poised to reclaim the position he was dumped from after the MCG last summer.
Starc’s place in the bowling attack has been put under an intense spotlight in recent weeks, particularly due to the form of West Australian Richardson, who has been blitzing the early rounds of the Sheffield Shield, including a big statement at the Gabba in a game against Queensland.
But selectors are conscious that last summer against India, Starc was silently playing under the heavy mental burden of his father’s illness and are putting confidence in his career numbers at the Gabba, where he averages more than four wickets a Test.
Starc is a must-have pick for the second Test in Adelaide where he is the pink ball king, so the momentum he will gain from starting the series in Brisbane is also key.
In fact, news that the fifth Test is set to become a second day-night Test – likely in Hobart – suddenly makes Starc a real centrepiece of Australia’s Ashes hopes – and it could be in Melbourne or Sydney that Richardson is subbed in to give the left-armer a freshen up.
Pat Cummins told News Corp in an interview last week before he was appointed captain that the group had all confidence in Starc as a world-class matchwinner.
“Look at his career, he’s been brilliant for Australia over a long period of time,” said Cummins.
“Mitch is looking great. He’s feeling fresh. Over in the World Cup especially in the nets he was bowling fast and swinging the ball. I’m expecting a big summer from Mitchy
“There’s no question marks at all over Mitchy’s ability to be a matchwinner.”
Fox Cricket expert and former England women’s international Isa Guha said she would be leaning towards Starc due to his imposing presence as an enforcer greeting an England team short on preparation.
“He’s a left-arm and he can intimidate. And to get him into a bit of rhythm ahead of the Adelaide Test could be quite a good thing,” said Guha.
“Jhye has been bowling really well and he’s a wicket-taker … it’s a difficult choice really, but I sense that the way Australia has gone in the past has been around intimidation and to intimidate at the Gabba which has been a fortress for them.”
Unless things change over the coming days, Khawaja appears the man most likely to miss out amongst the batsmen, which is a tough call given his form and experience.
At 34 and with a proven record of scoring Test runs on Australian soil, Khawaja could do an important job at No. 5 or even as an opening batsman.
But it appears selectors are keen to back in younger men Marcus Harris and Head, but with the reassurance an experienced and calm character like Khawaja is waiting in the wings should a change need to be made during the series.
Australia’s training has been limited, so there is still time for thinking to change during net sessions over the coming days.
LIKELY AUSTRALIAN XI
David Warner
Marcus Harris
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Travis Head
Cameron Green
Alex Carey
Mitchell Starc
Pat Cummins
Nathan Lyon
Josh Hazlewood
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