Joe Burns’ inclusion in Australia team on weight of runs is positive, writes Robert Craddock

PICKING an in-form Joe Burns is a positive move, with Australia carrying two batsmen who have long been more style than results.

QLD's Joe Burns. The Australian Cricket team playing a practice match against the Queensland Bulls at Allan Border Field at Albion. Pic Peter Wallis

JUST because Australia is short of batting talent does not mean it should hand out gold passes to players who are struggling to deliver.

The selection of Joe Burns is a worthy step forward for an Australian team looking for fresh batting blood but there are still major questions hanging in the air over the rest of the top order.

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Australia’s hierarchy has long been obsessed about Shaun Marsh’s batting talent and the very mention of his name to selectors invariably triggers the sentence “he is one of the sweetest ball strikers in Australia”.

No argument there. But ball striking is only part of what makes a batsman successful and it’s not even the biggest part.

In golf that is the equivalent of saying a golfer is long off the tee. It doesn’t mean a player is going to score well or can think his way around the golf course.

Joe Burns in action for the Bulls against WA at The Gabba. Picture: Jono Searle

Marsh has been playing first-class cricket for 14 years and has a first-class average of 36.6.

His 12 centuries come at the rate of less than one a season so, given his considerable ability, there is something fundamentally askew with his game that has never quite been fixed.

He will have innings where he looks a million dollars and we will all wax lyrical about his timing, technique and array of strokes.

But his challenge is to simply put a huge season of batting returns together.

It is time for him to kick it up a gear.

Shane Watson also needs more from his game.

Watson had not even reached the boundary rope after being dismissed for a duck at the Gabba on Saturday when my phone started beeping in my pocket from friends with strong opinions about Watson’s future.

Shaun Marsh is yet to deliver on his undoubted talent. Picture: Cameron Spencer

Most were unprintable.

Watto’s long, slow walk back to the pavilion is like a man walking to nowhere in particular after his car breaks down on a desert highway.

Watson, to his credit, did some useful work with the ball in Brisbane and, with his slips fielding, the package is still handy and worth retaining.

But four centuries from 54 Tests is a modest reflection of his immense — here’s those dreaded words again — ball striking ability.

It bewilders Australia that it cannot produce more Test batsmen because the entire game is slanted in their favour.

Boundaries have come in, wickets are flat, bats are far more powerful than they used to be, and protective gear outstanding.

There are laws restricting bouncers and every first-class batsman can check out his bowling opponents on video files to the nth degree.

Shane Watson is under pressure to score runs. Picture: Adam Head

Bowlers have few secrets.

More and more, cricket is becoming a batsman’s game, yet, for some mysterious reason, Australia is struggling to produce them.

There is a theory that batting techniques have become less orthodox and more vulnerable since the advent of Twenty20 cricket, with batsmen clearing their front leg in the name of increased power.

But David Warner’s versatility has destroyed any argument that it is not possible to adapt from the shorter to longer forms of the game.

Australia is lucky to have South African batsman Jacques Kallis in town for the Big Bash and it may be worth Australia’s while to invite him into a batting meeting for a talk about how to construct the long innings.

With endless patience and poise, he did it as well as anyone and Australia’s batsmen could do with a little guidance.

Originally published as Joe Burns’ inclusion in Australia team on weight of runs is positive, writes Robert Craddock