Australia v India: Challenges await selectors ahead of Adelaide Test

AUSTRALIA’S cricket selectors have a series of subtle challenges to confront as they head back to the coal face after the death of Phillip Hughes.

Methode Byline Headshots. Staff. News Queensland. Robert Craddock

AUSTRALIA’S cricket selectors have a series of subtle challenges to confront as they head back to the coal face after the death of Phillip Hughes.

The shattered faces of Trevor Hohns and Darren Lehmann said more than words ever could about the level of grief the selectors felt over Hughes death and Mark Waugh had the additional stress of being at the SCG when Hughes was struck.

The assessment of players’ form throughout the Indian series is a more complex, sensitive issue than it normally would be given there is a possibility some players form could be affected by the lingering grief over Hughes’ death.

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It would not surprise if the selectors display additional patience with any players whose results waver in the first matches of a suddenly cramped Test match summer.

The big short term selection issue is whether Michael Clarke has sufficiently recovered from his injured hamstring to play in Tuesday’s first Test in Adelaide.

When Hughes was struck at the SCG last week Clarke was hours away from being declared out of the (since rescheduled) first Test but the decision was never announced because the Hughes incident changed the world and the date of the first Test.

The new starting date to the series is only five days later than it was so Clarke has a major challenge to be fit.

Australia relishes the thought of Clarke playing in Adelaide not simply because it was Hughes’ adopted home ground but Clarke’s charismatic guidance of the team through the Hughes saga showed how much the side relies on his leadership.

But sentimentality can only stretch so far. The risk of further damaging a muscle which has been strained three times in recent months will weigh heavily on the selectors minds.

If Clarke withdraws, Shaun Marsh will be back under the shade of his baggy green cap beside his brother Mitchell for the first time in Tests.

Given the way brotherly rivalry tends to work you could have almost bet on Mitchell’s recent entrance to the Test team rousing Shaun, eight years older than Mitchell and a player who has teased without fully delivering at Test level, to impressive Sheffield Shield form.

The fast bowling stocks throw down further challenges.

When Australia named their first Test squad for Brisbane there was a whisper on every street corner that fast bowler Josh Hazlewood would be rushed into the starting XI.

It just made sense. What better way of ushering Australia’s new tall timber into Test cricket than letting him loose on one of Australia’s bounciest decks, even if it came at the expense of Peter Siddle?

Hazlewood still might get the nod next week but Adelaide has thrown up a different, more complex equation.

A traditionally flatter wicket may require a shoulder-to-the-wheel man to grind away at high intensity and this is Siddle’s stock in trade.

While his Adelaide record is not spectacular (18 wickets at 34 in five Tests), Siddle’s renowned strength of body and mind could be useful in a Test which will be as much a mental as physical challenge for the Australians.

Given Australia’s bizarre path to this Test it is difficult to think there will not be some rusty moments.

Siddle’s sturdiness could be useful though his recent Test results suggest he is bowling for his future every time he plays now.

Originally published as Australia v India: Challenges await selectors ahead of Adelaide Test