Australia Test scout: Selectors pray Sheffield Shield opener answers key questions for India series
A potential Cameron Green sized hole has left Australia’s selectors with a huge headache. This week they get their first chance at finding a way to fill it.
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Cricket is back. Summer is nearly here. And it’s time for Australia’s Sheffield Shield stars to grab the spotlight.
Australia’s Test selectors will enter the summer with more headaches about the make-up of their best XI than they’ve had in recent years – adding extra weight to the importance of performances in the opening round of the Shield.
With question marks surrounding the top of the order, the usage of Steve Smith and Travis Head, and the fitness of all-round options Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh, there’s multiple moving parts when it comes to nailing down the team that will face India in the first Test in Perth next month.
That opens the door for fringe stars, forgotten options and the best young talent in the country in the opening round of the domestic first-class competition.
Marcus Harris
Six years ago Marcus Harris’ long wait for a baggy green came to an end as he was called up to play India.
He will be hoping for history to repeat this summer, after riding the pine for Australia for the better part of two years before being usurped for selection by Steve Smith’s surprise move to the top of the order.
Smith is expected to return to the middle order this summer, and with Cameron Green injured there could be room for a specialist opener.
He’d be forgiven for thinking selectors owe him one, but he’ll need to make his mark if he is going to be recalled. The Victorian averaged 29.75 in the Sheffield Shield last summer, but enjoyed himself in county cricket in the winter (388 runs at 43.11) and recently notched a half-century in the One-Day Cup.
All-round headache
It’s seemingly a bad time to be a seam-bowling all-rounder in Australia right now.
With an injury cloud hanging over Cameron Green, there could be a hole to fill in Australia’s Test XI.
Unfortunately for selectors, they won’t get a chance to scout the two leading contenders to replace the tall-timber this week – both Aaron Hardie and Will Sutherland are sitting out the opening round of the Sheffield Shield.
Hardie was ruled out of Western Australia’s match against Queensland with a quad issue, while Sutherland was sidelined for “load management” reasons.
The injury is particularly untimely for Hardie, who has looked a Test player in waiting for a while now. With a first-class batting average of 40.45 and bowling average of 28.53, the 25-year-old did his cause no harm on Australia’s limited overs tour of England where he shone with bat and ball.
Cameron Bancroft
The forgotten man of Australian cricket? That’s certainly the view of fans from out west, who have called for Bancroft’s return to the Test team after excellent displays across the past three Sheffield Shield seasons.
Bancroft has spent five years out of the Test team, but has kept his name at the selection table by piling on the runs for Western Australia. The leading Shield runscorer two years ago – with 945 at an average of 59 – Bancroft was second only to Beau Webster last summer, plundering another 778 with three centuries.
With question marks around the top of the Australian order, the 31-year-old Bancroft is sure to be in discussion. But runs are the best currency, and getting them early will be a big tick in his favour.
Captain Marnus
Marnus Labuschagne has got a strangle hold on the No.3 position but his form over the early rounds of the Sheffield Shield will be worth paying attention to.
The dogged right-hander is captaining the Bulls for the first time since being handed the reins. Queensland will be hoping that is the first step in his eventual succession to Pat Cummins as Australia’s Test skipper.
How he fares tactically and how the responsibility affects his performance could have both short and long-term effects.
Captaincy aside, Labuschagne will be intent on putting two middling years behind him. The 30-year-old is averaging 30 in Test cricket in 2024, having averaged 34.91 in 2023 – well short of the 62.29 he averaged from 2019 to the end of 2022.
Matthew Renshaw
Like Bancroft and Harris, Renshaw will eye an opportunity to break back into the national set-up with the news that the Steve Smith opening experiment looks set to end.
Renshaw has featured most recently of the trio, playing in India last year, and been a travelling reserve – indicating he is the next cab off the rank – but his Shield returns in recent years haven’t been mindblowing.
Just three centuries in the past three years, and a meagre average of 24.93 last year, aren’t exactly knocking down the door of selectors.
But Renshaw, and his measured approach to occupying the crease, is well liked by selectors and he could very easily mount a compelling case if he can cash in against a strong Western Australian bowling lineup this week.
Michael Neser
As outlined above, Australia has some genuine concerns when it comes to filling the Test all-round spot.
And while Green – and Mitchell Marsh – are predominantly bat-first options, Australia could go in another direction and give their front-line quicks a genuine back-up who can soak up bulk overs.
Neser has twice played for Australia as a fast bowler, but could he be a stop-gap to fix the all-rounder conundrum?
The 34-year-old has become a more reliable batting option recently, hitting four of his five first-class centuries in the past two years while lifting his average towards 30.
Another whose name always comes up at the selection table. A bright start to the Shield season with the bat, especially, could rocket him into calculations.
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