Cricket World Cup: Ryan Harris and Cameron Boyce should be in squad, says Ben Dorries

AUSTRALIA has missed a trick by not picking Queenslanders Cameron Boyce and Ryan Harris in its World Cup squad, writes Ben Dorries.

Australia's Cameron Boyce celebrates after taking the wicket of South Africa's Rilee Rossouw caught by Australia's Sean Abbott during the Australia v South Africa T20 International cricket match at ANZ Stadium, Sydney. Pic Brett Costello

AUSTRALIA has missed a trick by being as tame as a house cat with its World Cup squad and not picking Queenslanders Cameron Boyce and Ryan Harris.

World Cups are won either by great sides such as the all-conquering Australian outfit that won a famous treble between 1999 and 2007.

Or they are won by something out of the box such as when Sri Lanka sent little wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharana up to open in 1996.

At a time when 60 runs was considered decent for the first 15 overs, Kaluwitharana and Sanath Jayasuriya shocked the world by often smacking 100 runs off the fielding restriction overs.

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Xavier Doherty is hoping to help Australia win the World Cup.

But the conservative World Cup squad Australia announced on Sunday is neither a great team nor is it a team with any tantalising mystery options or surprise packets.

Xavier Doherty as a sole frontline spinner won’t exactly have any of the world’s top batsmen (or even second-tier batsmen) choking on their cornflakes.

Doherty might be a serviceable option but when has serviceable ever won a World Cup?

And is he really that “serviceable’’? Doherty averages almost 40 a wicket in one-day cricket and goes for close to five an over.

In his Courier-Mail column last week, Australian legend Allan Border was pushing for the inclusion of Boyce or South Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa to give Australia a World Cup X-factor.

Border was right on the money.

Doherty averages almost 40 in one-day international cricket. Picture: Wayne Ludbey.

Leg-spinners or mystery spinners are crucial at World Cups because batsmen might only see them once in the tournament and take six or seven overs to work them out.

It was that exact element of mystery that worked so well for Brad Hogg in two World Cups.

Hogg was hardly the best spinner the world had ever seen but by the time batsmen got to the bottom of his flippers and tricky wrong-uns, the horse had bolted and he had bounded on to the next game.

Australian selection boss Rod Marsh claimed Boyce was not ready for one-day international cricket.

But this is the same spinner he picked to play four Twenty20 internationals in which Boyce has performed well and taken six wickets.

And Boyce has been a star in the Big Bash with his attacking spin that befuddles many batsmen.

Similarly, Australia have made a major blunder not picking the blue-chip Harris for the World Cup.

Ryan Harris (R) is a Test-only player these days. Picture: Brett Costello.

Harris is one of the best quicks in the world and he and Mitchell Johnson are the pair of bowlers that Australia’s World Cup rivals would least like to face.

So why isn’t Harris playing?

The popular theory is Harris is 35, his injury-plagued body would not survive the World Cup and Australia’s Ashes mission in England this year is more important.

“We’d really like to see Ryan go to England and bowl his heart out again in Test cricket and keep those Ashes,” Marsh said yesterday.

“He’s that important to the team in Test match cricket. I know there’s nothing bigger than a World Cup — he would have loved to have been in the side but I think he also realises that he would have struggled.”

But would Harris really have struggled?

Australia plays roughly one World Cup game a week. And Harris could have been rested for games against easybeats like Afghanistan and Bangladesh, to make his workload even less taxing.

None of it makes much sense.

Bold is beautiful at the World Cup and Australia should have thrown caution to the wind with a couple of daring and unexpected but highly justified selections.

Originally published as Cricket World Cup: Ryan Harris and Cameron Boyce should be in squad, says Ben Dorries