T20 tri-series: David Warner poised to take charge of Australia as packed schedule bites
DAVID Warner is likely to be elevated to the Twenty20 captaincy next month as Australia devises a plan to handle format clashes on the eve of the Test tour of South Africa.
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DAVID Warner is likely to be elevated to the Twenty20 captaincy next month as Australia devises a plan to handle format clashes on the eve of the Test tour of South Africa.
Steve Smith is expected to be rested from the T20s and travel early to South Africa where he will be able to lead the nucleus of an Australian team in a three-day red ball tour match on February 22.
It’s understood Warner would then take charge of the T20 team to take on England and New Zealand in the tri-series, which means if Australia makes it through to the final on February 21, he and possibly one or two other Test stars would miss the pre-Test tour match in South Africa.
Cricket Australia is desperate to minimise disruptions to the Test team’s already limited preparations for such a heavy-duty Test tour like South Africa, but at the same time they want to try and get a roll on in their bid to lift themselves from their lowly ranking and win a maiden World Twenty20 on home soil in the year 2020.
The big-picture look towards the World Twenty20 tournament is why Ricky Ponting has joined up as Darren Lehmann’s assistant coach for the tri-series, as reported by The Daily Telegraph last week.
“A tri-series like this will give us a great chance to establish a pattern of play that works best for the players,” said Ponting.
Warner has strong captaincy pedigree as skipper of IPL powerhouse Sunrisers Hyderabad but it’s unknown if he would ever take over the reins of the Australian Twenty20 side permanently, or whether that role would remain a tour-by-tour proposition depending on Smith’s availability.
Certainly Ponting has made it clear in the past that he doesn’t feel it’s wise for Smith to continue as captain in all three formats, for risk of burning out, and as it stands Smith has not played in a single T20 international since the last World Cup nearly two years ago.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland and coach Lehmann have both insisted in recent days that Test cricket remains their No. 1 priority.
But Lehmann admits the timing of the Twenty20 tri-series makes preparations to take down South Africa and move closer to the No. 1 Test ranking a juggling act.
“We don’t have much time, that’s the problem with the changeover,” said Lehmann.
“We have a Shield round (starting February 8) and a tour game in Benoni.
“We’ll have to work that out (the balance between the two squads) as best as we possibly can.
“We can’t do anything about scheduling but we’ll try and give them the best preparation we can in that regard.”
South Africa-bound batsmen like Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb are all highly likely to play in the one Sheffield Shield round they have available, meaning they’ll have two first-class hits before the first Test against the Proteas starting on March 1 in Durban.
It would be far from ideal to have opener Warner and other T20 candidates like Tim Paine, Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc missing the tour match in Benoni.
However, at least in Warner’s case he is an experienced star proven at quickly adapting between formats.
After South Africa decimated India on a wild swinging pitch in Cape Town, Australia are under no illusions about what they will be up against when they come face-to-face with the world’s No. 1-ranked fast bowling attack.
“They’ve got some quality bowlers South Africa, no doubt about that,” said Lehmann. They’ll swing it around.
“It’s been quite dry so it’ll be interesting to see what sort of wickets we get there.
“Preparation is key for whatever series. You’ve got to get there as early as you can.”
Assistants Brad Haddin and David Saker will fly with the advance crew to South Africa and run proceedings for the tour game in the event Lehmann isn’t there.
Ponting said he was delighted to join Lehmann’s staff for the Twenty20s.
“I loved working with the squad last year against Sri Lanka (under Justin Langer) and I can’t wait to be working alongside Darren, Troy (Cooley) and Matthew (Mott),” he said.
“Watching the Big Bash League in my role as a commentator has shown me we have a wealth of talent available to us in this format.”