T20 World Cup 2021: Justin Langer declares David Warner a certain starter for opener
Glenn Maxwell hasn’t always been viewed as a leader in the Aussie set-up, but Justin Langer will be relying on ‘his fielding captain’ as his eyes and ears out in the middle in the UAE.
Cricket World Cup
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cricket World Cup. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Justin Langer has launched a strident defence of David Warner, adamant that despite his form struggle, he’s never seen a fitter cricketer in 30 years.
The Australian coach says Warner and Glenn Maxwell stand out as the two energy surges to ignite his team’s T20 World Cup campaign against South Africa on Saturday night, with Steve Smith as the glue holding it all together.
The ICC T20 Cricket World Cup starts Oct 17 and you can catch the first round on us with Kayo Freebies. Get the play underway at kayosports.com.au/freebies
Matthew Wade will be backed in as wicketkeeper while Josh Hazlewood looks like causing the biggest selection shock of all by unseating Pat Cummins from a bowling attack that’s likely to start with only two quicks and two spinners and rely on the all-round weaponry of Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh.
Warner has faced just 14 balls for three runs since May, but Langer is buoyed by the 34-year-old’s unprecedented physical preparation and the tangible influence of his opening partnership with Aaron Finch as a force that cannot be underestimated.
“At his age, I’ve never seen David Warner so physically fit and to get as fit as he is, that takes focus and discipline and there’s some fire in his belly,” Langer told News Corp.
“I really like that and I’ve applauded him on that.
“That excites me and I like the fact he’s coming back with Finchy. It won’t surprise you when I say opening partnerships are important.
“Davey is a bit like Maxi at the moment — his energy is unbelievable and I’m really excited about where he’s at. He’s an important part of us winning this World Cup.
“No one in our group has had more IPL success or played as much IPL as he has and that experience in big tournaments is going to be crucial for us.”
While the majority of Australia’s squad is desperately lacking match practice, Maxwell is the exception to the rule after a dynamic IPL has him coming into the World Cup in career-best form.
Maxwell hasn’t always been viewed as a leader in the Australian set-up, but Langer has nominated him as his “fielding captain”, with Finch to rely on his Victorian mate’s killer T20 instincts as his eyes and ears out in the middle.
“He’s like the fielding captain for us in terms of getting positions right out on the field,” said Langer.
“He brings so much energy to the group. He’s obviously confident at the moment and he’s bringing great experience in terms of conditions and ideas.
“I said to him to have five days off after the IPL to just go and play golf or relax. After two days he was back throwing balls and catches to the other guys and his energy is indicative of how the whole group is at the moment.”
Shane Warne was one ex-great to leave Steve Smith out of his best XI for Australia after an IPL where one of the world’s best batsmen was scarcely used by his franchise coach, Ricky Ponting.
Although demoted from No.3 to accommodate the much improved Mitch Marsh, Smith will play a crucial role at No.5, where he can either mop up a batting collapse as he did against India in a warm-up game on Wednesday night, or help navigate Australia’s path against opposition spinners on the dusty decks of the UAE.
“He keeps saying, ‘coach I’m batting well, I’m batting well.’ And I love when Steve Smith says that,” said Langer.
“He’s like Mr Fix It where he can potentially go in if we lose a couple of early wickets or because of the way he hits the ball all around the ground he can play at the death for us. He can play spin as well as anyone we’ve got in the team. So he’ll play a very, very important role as the glue of the batting order.”
Why Warner woe is just tip of Aussie iceberg
Australia might not win the World Cup with David Warner, but they certainly won’t win it without him.
Despite the concerns over Warner’s form, selectors must back in one of the all-time greats of Twenty20 cricket and hope he rises for the big occasion.
Australia doesn’t have the depth to justify axing such a proven performer for game one of the tournament, and although the alarm bells are sounding after so little time in the middle – you simply can’t win World Cups without heavyweights.
There were calls for Steve Smith to also be axed from Australia’s best XI, but as he has proven across the two warm-up games, he remains absolutely crucial, even if a couple of others around him might have more enviable T20 records on paper.
Like Smith, Warner is Australia’s other proven big occasion heavyweight and Australia have to trust his pedigree.
To drop Warner, Australia would have to be convinced Matthew Wade or Marcus Stoinis could do a better job at the top.
Can they be that sure?
With doubts over whether Australia has the batting firepower to challenge the top dogs as it is, the last thing they can afford to do is not load up their biggest cannon for Saturday’s opener against South Africa.
According to Nathan Lyon, there are four keys to Australia’s World Cup hopes, and Warner is one of them.
“You need everyone there firing not just David. But if David fires it goes a long way to (winning) the World Cup,” said Lyon.
“You’ve got (Warner), Maxwell, Stoinis and Starc who are the big four in my eyes.
“Davey’s Davey. I’ve got full confidence he’ll bounce back. The wheel often goes around in cricket. He just needs to trust his process and he’ll come out of it. I’m actually backing he’ll have a pretty big World Cup and massive Ashes.”
The bigger picture for Australia is Warner’s form is far from their only headache.
Across the board there are huge question marks over whether their batting is good enough.
Aaron Finch looked scratchy in both warm-up games coming back from knee surgery and the jury is out on whether Australia has the right balance of rhythm and explosiveness in its middle-order to compete with the best teams who have expert finishers in those positions.
Warner’s real issue isn’t so much form, but the fact it’s combined with a complete lack of match practice.
His recent scores of 0, 2, 0 and 1 are his only four matches since April. And he hasn’t played a proper match for Australia (outside of the two unofficial warm-up games) since the Gabba Test in January.
The World Cup starts on Saturday night against a very beatable Proteas line-up with no AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn or Faf du Plessis. Australia has to believe a Warner score will play them into contention this tournament.
If he struggles, Australia will struggle this World Cup – but if Warner isn’t in the line-up, Australia won’t have the weaponry to turn their fortunes around.
Warner’s NSW coach Phil Jaques says the left-hander has to forget about his snub from IPL club and get back in the fight.
“Once he’s back in the competition he’s a real fighter, a real competitor,” Jaques said.
“As you get older you don’t need as long a preparation or as much preparation as when you were a younger fella, so I’m sure he’ll adapt and still win games for Australia.”
Finch must backflip on key World Cup call
Selectors called Josh Inglis into the World Cup squad for a reason, and that reason demands he start for Australia in Saturday’s T20 opener.
Captain Aaron Finch has already declared Matthew Wade will get first crack over Inglis as wicketkeeper, but that decision needs to be revisited after the uncapped West Australian clinched Australia a warm-up win over New Zealand with the only two balls he faced.
It wasn’t so much the two boundaries Inglis confidently stroked with Australia needing 8 off 3 that should change selectors’ minds, but more the reason he was out there at all – an alarming middle-order collapse of 3-1 in just six balls chasing 159.
Australia’s massive problems with middle-order batting in Twenty20 cricket is nothing new, in fact it’s why selectors had the good sense to call the uncapped Inglis into the squad at the last minute in the hope he had the skills to be the finisher they so desperately need.
The fact Inglis didn’t come into bat against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi until No. 9 shows he’s not currently in the plans to start in Australia’s tournament opener against South Africa on Saturday.
But now is not the time for Australia to die wondering.
They’re in a cutthroat group at the World Cup where they must win two of three games against the Proteas, tournament favourites England and the defending champion West Indies to progress to the semi-finals.
Put simply, Justin Langer’s side can’t afford to feel their way into the tournament.
In other circumstances it would be understandable for selectors to back in the experience and incumbency of Wade who captained Australia in its last series.
But if history has taught Australia anything about why it has never won a Twenty20 World Cup, it’s that shoehorning top order stars into the middle order does not work as well as it looks on paper.
Twenty20 batting is so much about specialists that the cue for Glenn Maxwell’s arrival at the crease has nothing to do with the traditional method of how many wickets fall but when the power play ends after six overs.
To that point, Wade – a natural top order match-winner – is still shaping as a crucial part of Australia’s World Cup hopes – especially when David Warner’s first ball duck and Aaron Finch’s scratchy 24 off 19 balls against New Zealand in the warm-up did nothing to ease Australia’s concerns about the form of their openers.
Australia has depth at the top.
But the middle-order is where they’re thin and untested and relying on Wade and another top order BBL star Marcus Stoinis (both part of the warm-up match collapse) as the combination to steer Australia’s batting home at No. 6 and 7 is fraught with danger.
Inglis has no international experience – so it’s a gamble – and he is another right-hander in a line-up where Wade was a point of difference as a lefty.
But in the Big Bash and The Hundred he has proven to be a middle-order expert and one of the most proficient players of spin bowling in the world of franchise cricket.
The selection of Inglis in the Australian squad was an inspired choice, but not if he’s left watching from the grandstands.
THE MISSING PIECE OF AUSSIE PUZZLE
Test great Adam Gilchrist has declared World Cup bolter Josh Inglis has also entered the frame to be Australia’s next Test wicketkeeper.
Gilchrist still has Alex Carey as the current favourite to succeed Tim Paine behind the stumps, ahead of the captain’s anticipated retirement at the end of the Ashes summer.
But the rise of Yorkshire-born Inglis to the verge of an international debut at the Twenty20 World Cup starting next week, also announces him as a genuine challenger to Carey’s status as next cab off the rank for Australia in Test cricket.
Inglis is regarded by some experts as Australian cricket’s next best out-and-out gloveman after Paine, although Carey brings to the table a wealth of international experience, leadership traits and superior batting numbers at this stage of his career.
Australian T20 captain Aaron Finch has already confirmed the veteran Matthew Wade will get first crack as Australia’s keeper at the World Cup, but Inglis remains firmly in the mix to be blooded at some stage in the tournament, even alongside Wade as a specialist middle-order finisher.
Gilchrist, the world’s greatest ever wicketkeeper batsman said Australia has excellent depth behind the stumps and believes Inglis’ is a real player to watch this summer in all formats as Paine approaches the end.
“I think if it was being picked tomorrow for the first Test at the Gabba and for some reason Tim wasn’t there, I think Carey would get the start,” said Gilchrist, Fox Cricket’s leading expert.
“But Inglis has definitely got to be in the conversation and I think he’d be aware of that and Alex Carey would be aware of that.
“Matt Wade could come back into the equation possibly if it was a short term replacement, and even a guy like Jimmy Peirson … I’d have confidence he’d do a very decent job at that level just through his experience now of playing so much first class cricket.
“We’re really stocked in that position. I’m really loathed to create some sort of rivalry between Inglis and Carey and everyone watches that and puts pressure on each of them to try and prove their worth.
“They’re both smart guys and balanced guys, they’ll just keep going about their business and when the opportunity comes, which is a bit of an unknown, selectors will have a couple of very decent options to pick from.”
Gilchrist said one of the biggest factors going for Inglis, 26, is his utility value as a wicketkeeper who can also bat anywhere from 1-7.
Australian selector George Bailey said Inglis has been called up out of Big Bash and The Hundred domestic cricket to the World Cup because of his proven record as a T20 finisher – an area the national team has not mastered since James Faulkner’s golden period in the 50-over team.
“He has been just so impressive in his gradual development over the last two to three seasons. He’s proving now to be almost like your football utility, which is a pretty good position to be in for him to get that opportunity to be in a touring squad and a good player type for Australia to have,” said Gilchrist.
Cummins, Starc under pressure from Hazlewood
Mitchell Starc might be one of only two Australians in Twenty20 cricket’s top 20, but Josh Hazlewood is poised to create an almighty World Cup selection showdown.
In a tournament where slow conditions will make it difficult for Australia to justify playing more than two specialist quicks, Starc and all-format superstar Pat Cummins appeared to have a mortgage on spearheading the attack.
But Hazlewood’s trademark consistency has helped steer his Chennai Super Kings to the IPL title, including a strangling 2-29 effort to cause a major selection headache for George Bailey and Justin Langer on the eve of the tournament.
With two specialist spinners almost a non-negotiable for Australia, squeezing in their most in-form bowler Hazlewood would mean either dropping a batter or all-rounder from the line-up, or axing one of Starc or Cummins.
Australia’s sorry history in Twenty20 cricket is reflected in the fact Starc (No. 12) and Glenn Maxwell (No. 7) are their only players featured in CricViz’s top 20 power rankings – a list which features five West Indians.
But Hazlewood, mysteriously brushed from the 2019 ODI World Cup, is suddenly putting serious heat on the golden duo of Starc and Cummins, neither of whom have played any cricket for at least two months.
“Hazlewood is the one who has thrown his hand in the mix now to get a game,” said Fox Cricket expert Adam Gilchrist.
“How they fit him in there and who they leave out is going to be interesting to see which way they go, because it seems like the spinners need to be of paramount importance too.”
Along with Hazlewood, Maxwell is Australia’s only other battle-hardened and in-form World Cup ace – fresh from arguably the best batting performance of the IPL.
Maxwell is pivotal for Australia, but Gilchrist says it’s important he isn’t expected to carry the hopes of the side.
“He’s got a huge role to play. Whenever Glenn Maxwell delivers it’s typically in a successful team pursuit,” said Gilchrist.
“He’s such an exciting player that when he does well it’s usually in a manner that totally demoralises the opposition and takes the game away from them. But what we’ve all learnt too with a player of that type, you’re going to have some days where he misses out.
“I hope we don’t overburden him with expectation. I don’t think it’s a case of if he fails Australia is out. There’s plenty of good batting talent around him.”
Australia’s other world rankings leader Starc is the king of white ball cricket and it’s almost impossible to imagine him being left out of a T20 World Cup attack given his brilliant record in big tournaments.
The fact Starc is ranked at 12 in the world by CricViz outlines his class, because as someone who has sat out the past two IPL’s, he plays a lot less Twenty20 cricket than every other player on the list.
Starc will be under pressure come the Test summer, after Australia’s bowling attack failed to close out last summer’s series against India – but Gilchrist sees the World Cup as a springboard for the left-armer to get his confidence levels peaking for the Ashes.
“ … When he’s off it can look horrible. But he’s irrepressible when he’s on. And for the bulk of his career he’s on more than he’s off,” said Gilchrist.
“He showed some really good glimpses of being back to that confident rhythmical bowler in the West Indies (in July and August).
“I think the only pressure (ahead of Ashes) will only come from himself really. If he can come out of the World Cup with some confidence that will help him settle into the Gabba Test better. I would expect that same bowling line up will be selected for the first Test. And then after that, it’s how it plays out.”
More Coverage
Originally published as T20 World Cup 2021: Justin Langer declares David Warner a certain starter for opener
‘Oh my God’: Healy’s sledge just too good
Alyssa Healy can lay claim to the crucial dismissal of Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu after a sledge that worked miracles.
Recognition due for Aussie dynasty that tops any football team
Australia’s women’s cricketers are chasing a fourth-straight T20 World Cup win. The true extent of their dominance is extraordinary and they deserve equal attention to the Penrith Panthers, writes EMMA GREENWOOD.