Australia’s sputtering World Cup defence can be revived, starting with series against South Africa
FORGET Australia’s one-day losing streak, the legendary ADAM GILCHRIST says there’s enough quality for selectors to nail a 15-man World Cup squad — and it’ll start to show against the Proteas.
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IT’S clear by their results that the one-day team has really struggled in recent times.
Australia is on a six-game losing streak in-one day cricket, including a 5-0 whitewash in England earlier this year. But that tour isn’t a true indication of what the team is capable of.
It was Justin Langer’s first series as coach, and the team was incredibly impacted by the suspensions of Steve Smith and David Warner, as well as the resting of our best fast bowlers who were on the comeback from injury.
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We are still a fair way out from the World Cup in England next year, there is a summer left and a few more matches after that on the road in India than Pakistan. But it’s business time now to try and get to this World Cup squad of 15.
I think there’s some quality in among the options at the disposal of selectors and it would be a difficult challenge to cull it down to 15. Just on evidence of this JLT Cup one-day competition, and notwithstanding there have been some batting-friendly grounds and good wickets, but players have gone about it in the right manner and posted scores.
I‘ve never been a big believer in worrying too much about stats before a big tournament. Once you get to the event, it is a fresh start, different conditions and away you go.
So you don’t have to read too much into how it looks leading in to it. And to me, results from the past six months aren’t a true reflection of what the team is capable of.
THE BATTING
In my mind it’s felt like there has been a real lack of consistency in the batting, which brings about a lack of confidence. It doesn’t allow players go out and play with the complete freedom that maybe we have just seen in the JLT Cup and from England, who are a team that has been well backed to go out there and just go for it.
With our best-picked XI and even some of the guys just around the periphery, there are some fine attacking players there who need the confidence and backing to just go out there and play their natural game and be aggressive because now it’s a fast-paced, aggressive game in 50-over cricket. The scoring rate needs to be high tempo. Darren Lehmann and his group would have tried to instil that with the players, but they haven’t been able to deliver, which has hit the confidence levels. That needs to change now.
THE BOWLING
The fast-bowling stocks are strong, and deep, starting with the big three of Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. But beyond them there is so much pace, with Nathan Coulter-Nile, Billy Stanlake, Jhye Richardson, then Andrew Tye and Kane Richardson.
The key is to have them all fit and available, which they haven’t been recently. You have to get the balance right: the quick bowlers in the right conditions and the best spinner. Maybe this summer we will see a rotation of the core three through the six ODIs — the certainties — and give the others vying for positions an opportunity, and the best line-up will work itself out.
THE SPIN QUESTION
The area of greatest uncertainty for me has been our best spinning option.
I think the role the spinner will play in the World Cup in England is going to be crucial, particularly if you come up against the hosts in a sudden-death game.
England will be trying to nullify any pace and bounce from our quicks and at various grounds you are going to need a quality spinner.
It’s not that we don’t have spinning options, it’s just the uncertainty of who they are. Ashton Agar was probably one of the few positives to come out of that 5-0 series loss in England.
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I was there to watch that and he was a shining light in the way he played there. He is really developing nicely as an all-round cricketer and learning how to best go about his job in 50-over cricket.
But I would also really like to see a leg-spinner in there, to be honest. Who that might be, I’m not sure. There are a few options, with Adam Zampa, Mitch Swepson, Fawad Ahmed maybe; and even D’Arcy Short bowls leggies.
THE WORLD CUP — WORRIED OR NOT?
When it comes to World Cups I always reflect on what our American fielding coach Mike Young talked about, and that was the difference between tournament play as opposed to a normal series.
In the tournament, you just have to get out of the group stage, and it doesn’t matter how you do it. In 1999 we did it by the skin of our teeth, the barest of margins.
Then in the nest two World Cups we went through undefeated, which was extraordinary, but not without hiccups.
The fact was when we got to the next stage, we were in exactly the same position each time, whether we’d just got through or not lost a match.
Once the knockout stages comes, there’s no going back. As long as you are ready, know what your best XI is, what’s best suited to those conditions and have players in form, you can have the confidence to know that you are a very competitive team.
Listen to the latest Cricket Unfiltered podcast as Menners, Barto and Tommy run through the good, the bad and the ugly of Australia’s Test series debacle against Pakistan.
MY TEAM FOR THIS SUMMER
I find it so hard and awkward picking any XI because there is so much quality around. That’s why I’ll always stay away from being a selector.
Even in this team, looking at the entire possible Australian squad, there is some real quality that will miss out. But this is a such a strong team, and when Steve Smith and David Warner return for the World Cup, it gets stronger.
GILLY’S ODI XI
1. Aaron Finch (capt)
2. Alex Carey
3. Shaun Marsh
4. Chris Lynn
5. Travis Head
6. Glenn Maxwell
7. Mitch Marsh
8. Ashton Agar
9. Pat Cummins
10. Mitch Starc
11. Josh Hazlewood
THE CAPTAIN
AARON Finch’s career maturity gets him the nod as captain. His elevation to a Test debut at 31 is an indication of the level of confidence Justin Langer and the selectors have in him. He’s shown himself to be a great team man, too, talking to those in and around the group. Tim Paine isn’t in the side and that’s because he made it clear after the series against England earlier this year that he was likely to move on and concentrate on Test cricket. But as the Test captain, his influence on this team can still be profound. While the series in England was lost 5-0, and on the surface didn’t look great, I don’t think you can underestimate the worth of it for both Paine and JL in setting up the new culture of the Australian team. I think it will provide a lot of great experience for everyone involved.
THE BATTING
Shaun Marsh scored two hundreds in England, despite having been out of the one-day side for a long time, and he’s a highly underrated white-ball cricketer. He was Australia’s leading run scorer in a losing series and deserves to hold his spot. Chris Lynn has had a massive JLT series and so has to get back in the team just ahead of D’Arcy Short, who really elevated his game to 50-over cricket after we saw what he was capable of in T20s. He is the next batsman in line. Alex Carey opens — like everyone, he will need runs to stay at the top but I’m backing him there.
THE BOWLERS
I’m picking Ashton Agar as my frontline spinner because he was one of the shining lights in England. Adam Zampa is next. The big three quicks pick themselves and I think they can play all three games against South Africa as a good lead-in to the Tests. They will play second XI games for NSW and have made it clear they want to be ready for the ODIs. Nathan Coulter-Nile, if fit, goes straight to the top of the list as next bowler picked, with Billy Stanlake, then Andrew Tye and Jhye Richardson.
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Originally published as Australia’s sputtering World Cup defence can be revived, starting with series against South Africa