Bold or ridiculous? The Australian One-Day selection call that has set tongues wagging

He has played just a single domestic one-day match for Western Australia and turned 19 a little more than two weeks ago, but Mahli Beardman now finds himself as a back up for the national ODI team. DANIEL CHERNY examines the merit and precedent for such a shock decision.

Even if largely inconsequential, it was still a bombshell.

The news on Monday night 19-year-old quick Mahli Beardman had been summoned to England to be on standby for the Australian men’s one-day side set tongues wagging in state cricket circles like arguably no other decision made in the more than three years since George Bailey was appointed national selection chair.

It is hard to remember a player being called up to an Australian touring party more on potential than senior output.

Of some noteworthy bolters from yesteryear, Mike Whitney had played seven first-class matches before being injected into the epic 1981 Ashes series, while in more modern times a teenage Josh Hazlewood’s addition for a one-day series in England 14 years ago still followed an impressive white-ball season with NSW.

Australia's Josh Hazlewood on one-day international debut in 2010. Picture: Chris Ison/PA Images via Getty Images

Batter Sam Heazlett hadn’t played a state one-dayer for Queensland when he was a shock inclusion for Australia’s white-ball tour of New Zealand in early 2017, but had been a regular in the Bulls Sheffield Shield side for a season and a half. Cooper Connolly, himself a speculative pick for this tour, had more than a season of Big Bash cricket under his belt before winning an Aussie Twenty20 cap.

As for the Margaret River and Dampier-raised Beardman? His grand total of senior professional cricket matches stands at one: a one-dayer for Western Australia against NSW last November in which he finished with 1-42 from six overs.

But this is not just some random fringe state cricketer. Beardman is a proven performer in international cricket, albeit at age group level. His 3-15 earned player of the final status in Australia’s under-19 World Cup final win over India at the start of the year. He was one of several standout pacers in the Aussie group, with fellow seamers Callum Vidler and Tom Straker both on Queensland’s books for this summer.

Mahli Beardman jumping for joy after a wicket in the ICC U19 Men's World Cup 2024 Final. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images

Beardman has also been contracted by the Perth Scorchers for the next two seasons, is capable of consistently notching above 140 km/h, and in a fact likely to be repeated ad nauseam over the next decade, has been mentored by the legendary Dennis Lillee.

Officially, Beardman is not yet part of Australia’s squad for the five one-dayers that round out the English season. But he is there as cover, and if injury befell any of Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Sean Abbott or Ben Dwarshuis, Beardman – at least at face value – would be the next man up, notwithstanding that Australia also Aaron Hardie, Cameron Green and Mitch Marsh as seam-bowling all-rounders in its squad.

This is not to say that the selection panel seriously believes Beardman is currently in Australia’s top five or six 50-over pace options. He has been added only after injuries to Spencer Johnson, Nathan Ellis, Xavier Bartlett and Riley Meredith. Centrally contracted but injury-prone pair Jhye Richardson and Lance Morris have meanwhile been left in Australia to build into the domestic season, while Will Sutherland was also not considered as he works his way into the campaign following a recurrence of back stress issues.

And of course there is Cummins, sitting out the tour to prepare for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

Realistically whoever had been sent to England would have been doing so with a recognition that they are probably not in the best dozen one-day quicks in the country.

Given too that the series is five matches and that there are plenty of all-round options, there are no guarantees Beardman will even play.

That didn’t stop a feeling of bewilderment emanating from certain quarters of the state system. One repeated quip was that there would some very disappointed quicks around the country who would’ve loved a national call-up. After all, Beardman was not even in the top 50 wicket-takers in last season’s one-day cup.

Beardman has played just the one-day match for WA. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images for Cricket Australia

Such a view, though common from those spoken to for this column, was not however universal. The counterpoint was that selectors had to pick with an eye to the long-term, and there was little to be gained by naming a more experienced player from the domestic ranks unlikely to have a substantial international career. That it was worth blooding a prospective superstar, and that history shows the best quicks come into the side young. Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins all played for Australia before their 21st birthdays.

The two bowlers who at face value could be considered hardest done-by in this instance are South Australia’s Jordan Buckingham and Victoria’s Fergus O’Neill, both of whom had excellent one-day cup seasons last year but cannot generate anywhere near the pace of Beardman. There is also an argument that they will be better served playing cricket back home rather than carrying drinks on frigid evenings in the UK.

The decision is also consistent with recent moves made by England, who blooded two-metre left-armer Josh Hull for a Test this month despite a first-class bowling average in the 60s. The thinking is – to bastardise those super fund advertisements – that domestic performance is not an indicator of international results. There are certain attributes more likely to make it in the international game.

Above all though, the Beardman call points to the overall meaninglessness of bilateral one-day series. It’s hard to believe a selection panel that has been criticised for being overly conservative would have done something like for a Test series, regardless of the opposition. One-day caps aren’t what they used to be.