Race to open the batting for Australia’s Test side narrows as pace stocks take hit
A bolter for the opening spot in the Test side has had his bid shut down by George Bailey, as the field narrows to four. How that four will line up for Australia A remains to be seen, writes DANIEL CHERNY.
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Australia’s pace bowling depth took a further hit on Monday as the field for the vacant Test batting position narrowed.
The quest for a top six spot against India at Perth Stadium next month increasingly appears a race in four but selection chair George Bailey was tight-lipped about which of Sam Konstas, Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Nathan McSweeney would need to bat out of position for Australia A in Mackay this week.
Bailey gave perhaps his surest indication yet that the panel is leaning towards a specialist top order player to replace Cameron Green in the top six by knocking on the head the prospect of Josh Inglis moving to the top.
The cavalier wicketkeeper-batter was thrust into the conversation as a potential Test opener by NSW coach Greg Shipperd on the back of two centuries to start the Shield season for Western Australia.
Bailey said he had told Inglis that he was not in the planning as a Test opener anytime soon, but the 29-year-old appears to be squarely in the mix should an opening arise for a specialist batting role in the middle order.
“I’ve spoken to Josh on this, not in the short term,” Bailey said when asked about the idea of Inglis opening.
“I don’t think that he’s someone that would be looking to place at the top of the order, but there’s no doubt that the form is really fantastic at the moment, as we’ve seen when he has been playing for Australia, and then the ability to jump back into domestic cricket and dominate, as he has been, it’s been fantastic.
“So I think different series at different times of the year he would firmly come into the mix, purely as a batter, the way he’s been going. And I think if the right opportunity opened up throughout the summer. You know, we’ve got some in the spots where we think he’s capable of performing, and I think he’d be firmly in that conversation as well.”
Defying convention, A skipper McSweeney will not pick the batting order for the pair of four-day clashes with India A, with selectors to instead decide the order in what is widely being billed as a bat-off for one spot in the top six.
Speaking on Monday after unveiling a depleted T20 squad for next month’s three-match series against Pakistan, Bailey did not divulge the order for the A game beginning in Mackay on Thursday.
Konstas, Harris and Bancroft are all specialist openers while the in-form McSweeney bats at No. 3 for SA.
“We’ve got three players who open the batting for their state, and we’ve got one player who bats three for their state, so four top order batters to try and try and fit into three. So there will be some adjustments there. I think we’ll set that up for the first game, and then if we deem it necessary, or if there’s something else we want to have a look at for the second game (beginning November 7 at the MCG), we may change that.”
Selectors have been forced into a second amendment to the A squad with NSW paceman Liam Hatcher ruled out of this week’s game after pulling up sore following the one-day win over Victoria last week. Hatcher – who had himself been a late inclusion at the expense of Mark Steketee (ankle soreness) – has been replaced by SA’s Brendan Doggett, who toured the UAE with the Test side six years ago.
The two A games will feature entirely separate frontline Australian bowling attacks, with Todd Murphy heading to Mackay along with Fergus O’Neill and Jordan Buckingham. Scott Boland, Michael Neser, Nathan McAndrew and Corey Rocchiccioli have been earmarked for the Melbourne leg.
The squad for the first match convenes in Mackay on Tuesday. Former Test skipper Tim Paine is among the coaches for the side alongside James Hopes and Lachlan Stevens.
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