Matthew Hayden: Australian selectors will regret not picking Ryan Harris for the World Cup

MATTHEW Hayden can’t believe selectors have left one of our Test heroes out of the Australian squad for next month’s World Cup.

30/12/2008 SPORT: 2008 Boxing Day Test. Australia v South Africa. MCG. Day 5. Matthew Hayden

AUSTRALIA’S selectors have picked a good squad for the World Cup, but they’ve missed a trick by leaving out Ryan Harris.

He is by far Australia’s standout bowler — and probably the best bowler on the planet right now. So why is he not picked?

The line about his body not holding up for the whole tournament doesn’t wash with me.

If he can get through a Test match bowling 30-40 overs like he does, surely he can get through a one-dayer.

Especially with seven days off between games.

I don’t understand how the medical team couldn’t manage him through.

The other suggestion is he’s being saved for the Ashes. Really?

It’s a brave call to put an Ashes series ahead of a World Cup.

If the tournament was overseas then maybe you would have considered that but we’re at home and he’s only got 10 overs to bowl each game, if that.

No other captain can rely on a bowler more than you can rely on Ryan Harris. He’s just that good.

Scroll down for Hayden’s Australian XI for the first game against England.

Leaving out Ryan Harris was a mistake.

The other player who can consider himself unlucky to miss out is James Pattinson.

He’s looked like a completely seasoned bowler in the Big Bash and just has so much potential, so Pat Cummins will need to deliver.

The other thing I think they’ve got wrong is giving Michael Clarke until the second game of the tournament against Bangladesh to prove his fitness.

For me, he needs to be fit game one and it would be a mistake by the national selection panel to think anything other than that.

I want Clarke calling the shots in game one — or not at all.

George Bailey needs to know if he’s going to be asked to lead the team to the World Cup or not and you have to pick your best side for the first game to create momentum at the start of the tournament.

Players talk about peaking at the right time but if you lose the first game you put yourself in so much risk.

So we want to roll out our best side in game one and win convincingly — especially because it’s England.

From then on you don’t take your foot off the gas. There’s seven days until the next game against Bangladesh at the Gabba so the same side should play and have the team really confident ahead of a danger game against New Zealand at Eden Park the following weekend.

So who starts against the Poms at the MCG on February 14? Here’s my starting XI.

TOP ORDER (positions 1-3)

Shane Watson

Aaron Finch & David Warner

These three pretty much pick themselves.

The Warner-Finch partnership reminds me of the one I shared with Adam Gilchrist at the top of the order.

Either one of them is capable of tearing apart the new ball.

You identify pretty early on whose day it is and then you roll with it. One really takes the initiative and the other plays a little more steady.

Watson averages more in ODIs than he does in Tests and scores at a really good clip.

MIDDLE ORDER (4-5)

Steve Smith

Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke is in my team if he’s fit — he has an unbelievable one-day record.

He averages almost 45 and you can bank on him scoring runs, that’s why they’re taking a punt.

Unfortunately it means dropping the vice-captain.

George Bailey is a very similar player to Clarke but his consistency over the past year and a bit hasn’t been as strong as it was in the six months before that.

From February to October in 2013 he scored 940 one-day runs at an average of more than 85 and was close to the best one-day batsman in the world. Since then he’s scored 410 runs at an average of 24.

There’s no way you can possibly drop Smith right now. He’s on fire.

ALL-ROUNDERS, WICKETKEEPER (6-8)

Mitch Marsh & Brad Haddin

Glenn Maxwell

Maxwell must play. Let’s get him into the tournament. He’s building confidence in the Big Bash and if he continues that in the tri-series we’ll want to keep the momentum going.

I’m going to play Marsh ahead of Faulkner to keep balance in the bowling attack. If Faulkner plays you’ve got too many left-armers.

Haddin is the only keeper in the squad, so he’s a no-brainer.

BOWLERS (9-11)

Josh Hazlewood

Mitchell Johnson & Mitchell Starc.

Johnson picks himself and Josh Hazlewood has got to play. I like his consistency.

Starc gets in because of his wicket-taking ability.

That leaves Bailey, James Faulkner, Xavier Doherty and Pat Cummins in reserve.

Doherty will play at certain grounds but I would pick Maxwell ahead of him in Melbourne because he can do a similar job with the ball and he’s a marginally better fielder and a better batsmen.

Cummins will likely be rotated with the other quicks.

I like the look of this team but I won’t give a prediction now, that can wait until closer to the tournament.

Hayden celebrates winning the 2007 World Cup with Andrew Symonds.