Australia v India: Could Tim Paine make a sneaky captain’s call on the Aussie opening pair?
The mystery around who will open the batting for Australia in Adelaide continues, but Ben Horne has the inside word on the men most likely.
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Joe Burns and Matthew Wade were on Wednesday night firming to become one of Australia’s most unexpected opening pairings in a decision which could shape the destiny of the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
Struggling opener Burns will survive the axe and play the first Test, while Wade was also set to take his place at the top of the order, unless Tim Paine made a late captain’s call to elevate himself.
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Australia has refused to confirm their playing XI until the toss, but it will be one of the two tough as nails Tasmanian boyhood mates hailing from the same tiny Hobart suburb of Lauderdale who will make the shock move up the order to replace the injured David Warner.
Steve Smith got through a lengthy training session on Wednesday and felt a lot better than the day before when a stiff back left him hobbling and unable to take to the nets, while Cameron Green’s father was understood to be on his way from Perth to watch his son’s dazzling debut.
Wade loomed as the safest choice to step up from No.6 and open because he is an experienced top six batsman who isn’t burdened by the exhausting responsibilities of wicketkeeping and captaincy.
Paine refused to rule himself out of the mix, and ultimately the batting order is the domain of the captain.
Three weeks ago, Warner and Will Pucovski were the short-priced favourites to open in the first Test – but after all the injury, concussion and chaos, Australia’s former wicketkeeper Wade, and the out of form Burns who has averaged 6 from nine knocks this season were poised to lead their side out of the gates.
“I think we’ve got a number of guys who are willing to open the batting,” said Paine.
“That says a lot about our group. But Wadey in particular, we saw against New Zealand last year with the short-ball stuff, he’s willing to put his body on the line for his team.
“We know he’s as tough as nails and he’ll do a good job no matter where he bats.
“Obviously we have got a scenario where we could have a different opener and we’ve had a number of guys put their hand up to do it if that’s the best thing for the team.
“That’s a great thing for us as a side.”
Paine was discussed as a potential opener and the fearless captain would not back down from the challenge if he went that way.
But one major deterrent to the idea of Paine opening would be if Australia bowls first and had slogged it out in the field for several sessions. Asking him to swap his wicketkeeping pads for batting pads and head straight back out there would be a massive ask which wouldn’t appear to make a lot of sense.
The theory behind Paine opening the batting appeared to be based on the fact it would leave Wade in his No.5 position and wouldn’t put him in a compromised position when Warner returns.
If Green was to light it up on debut and Wade was to struggle at the top, he could potentially snooker himself by taking one for the team and batting out of position.
Fox Cricket expert Mark Waugh was criticised in some quarters for suggesting Paine should open, but the former national selector’s bold call was far from silly.
Former Test great Ricky Ponting declared on Channel 7 that Wade would be his choice to open alongside Burns.
And the latest feeling on match eve was that Wade was the favourite to open.
It’s understood Burns was told on Wednesday he is playing the Test despite his lean run, with scores of 4, 0, 0, 1 from his last four knocks for Australia A.
“Speaking to Joe I don’t think he is [lacking confidence],” Paine said.
“He’s been looking forward to this Test match. Obviously his build-up in terms of runs hasn’t been great. But if you look at the work he’s done solely in Test cricket for this team it’s been very, very good.
“If Joe walks out to bat tomorrow we’ll got full confidence in him doing the job, there is no doubt about that.
“Obviously, stability in good cricket teams, in good sports teams, is really important. That’s something that we’ve tried to build over the last two years, is to try and have that stability around selection. It takes the worry out of it for certain players.
“There is always going to be a lot of noise externally about the first Test and what team we’re picking but internally we’ve been pretty clear for a while. Things have changed a little bit with injury but I think tomorrow you’ll probably see a pretty similar side walk out that finished the summer last year here in Australia.”
TEAMS
AUSTRALIA: Joe Burns, Matthew Wade, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (capt), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
INDIA: Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravi Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
GREEN TO DEBUT, AS OPENER DECISION DRAWS CLOSER
Cameron Green is set to debut against India in the first Test, with Joe Burns and Marcus Harris now fighting it out for the last place in Australia’s XI.
Matthew Wade is firming for a shock switch to open the batting to accommodate the debut of the prodigiously talented Green, with coach Justin Langer emphatically ruling out any chance of Marnus Labuschagne shifting out of the No. 3 position he has made his home.
Langer said selectors wouldn’t decide on their openers for another 24 hours, but it would appear Burns and Harris are in a two-way battle for the last seat on the bus.
Green will debut in Adelaide provided he passes final concussion tests, which at this point he is on track to do.
Langer hailed the emergence of the West Australian all-rounder dubbed by Greg Chappell as Australia’s hottest talent since Ricky Ponting.
“If he’s passed fit he’ll definitely play. We’re just going through the protocols, we all saw it was a very unusual incident that happened with him so if Cameron gets through the protocols and he gets through training and he’s feeling good (he will play),” said Langer.
“I saw him last night. He had a big smile on his face, he had another test this morning that we got good news on.
“He’s a terrific young bloke, he’s obviously an excellent talent. He’s earned the right for selections through his performances in Sheffield Shield cricket so if he’s fit and available he’ll make his Test debut which is very, very exciting for Australian cricket for him and his family.”
Langer was still backing Burns but said he would wait to watch the out of form Queenslander and Harris at training before a final call is made on who opens.
“I haven’t seen Joe. I’ve been talking to Joe the last week or so and I haven’t seen him yet,” said Langer.
“The guys got in yesterday afternoon. We all get together in a little while for a team meeting so I’ll see him soon.
“I’ve maintained I’ve been privately and publicly backing Joey in the whole time. He’s a very good player.
“You don’t lose your talent overnight. He also understands though that runs are the greatest currency of value to any player.
“He’s been a bit light on, but we’ll have a look at him. We’ll get eyes on him today. We’ll see how he’s going.
“We’ll have a chat to him today and we’ll make our decision on who is going to open in the next day or so.”
The fact Green is set to debut and Wade and Travis Head are entrenched in the side means that someone from the middle-order must shift up to open.
Langer said Wade could handle the move up the order, describing him as Mr Fix-It.
“He could. He could handle anywhere. He’s tough, mentally tough, physically tough, got good footwork, he’s got the game for it,” he said.
“He can counter attack like David Warner does, like a lot of the great openers do. They don’t just have strong defence, they can counter attack as well. He can definitely do it we’ve just got to work out the make-up, the best make-up of our team is going to be.
“What I learned as a selector, lots of people have an opinion on what it should be.
“There’s a few I’ll listen to, Ricky is one of those of course, but we’ve got to settle on what we think is the best to win this Test match.
“Marnus won’t be opening. He’s done an amazing job at No.3. Steve Smith does an amazing job at No. 4 and we’ll try stay as settled as possible while Davey is injured. They’ve done a great job in those positions. He won’t be opening.
“At the moment we’ve got Joe Burns and Marcus Harris here who are the openers, so we’ve got some tough decisions to be made but as I’ve said over and over tough decisions are good decisions. It means there’s competition for spots.”
There were immediate fears when Green copped the nasty blow to the side of the head from the return slog from Indian batsman Jasprit Bumrah that he may have suffered a facial fracture and he was immediately sent for scans.
Green was seen entering the imaging facility behind the SCG just over an hour after the incident during the Australia A tour game, but was cleared of any fractures.
With headaches being one of the key early signs of concussion, former Cricket Australia doctor and respected concussion expert, Peter Brukner says it may have been difficult to ascertain whether that was indeed concussion or the physical impact of being hit so hard.
“I was more worried about his cheekbone to be honest. I thought he might have fractured a cheekbone and when there’s a lot of pain it’s very hard to determine ‘is the pain just from the ball whacking you in the cheekbone, or is it coming from inside your head?’,” said Brukner.
“So that can be very hard to determine. I suspect his wasn’t too bad and was primarily just the bruising to the cheekbone as much as anything and that the actual concussion was pretty mild.”
All Australian cricketers are tested at the start of each season to determine a baseline for their cognitive functions.
They have their eyes, their balance and all their functions tested, and it’s against those metrics that doctors can determine whether a player has returned to ‘normal’.
There is a separate CogSPORT computer test which is standard across most Australian sports, and is the equivalent of memory computer games where certain puzzles are matched up and reaction times are measured.
“They won’t be able to be absolutely definite (that Green will debut) until he pulls up well in the morning and has one final test in the morning,” said Brukner.
“Both the SCAT and the CogSPORT computer test and they’ll want to be absolutely certain he’s 100 per cent.”
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