Cricket: Matthew Wade and Joe Burns ’not the blokes selectors want’

Justin Langer’s disregard for the batsmen knocking on the door of an under-performing Test team has irritated a lot of people.

Australia's cricket coach Justin Langer with captain Tim Paine. Picture: AFP

Justin Langer’s claim that selectors are struggling because the batsmen knocking on the door of the Test team are averaging in the 30s has irritated a lot of people in state cricket as well as sparking one conspiracy theory.

Marnus Labuschagne was added to the Australian squad at the end of the MCG Test without any official explanation from ­selectors.

They like the cut of his jib apparently and had made that clear when he leapfrogged Matthew Renshaw to debut in Dubai.

The decision to bring back the Queenslander, who played two Tests in the UAE, has met with some criticism. But a case for his selection is not hard to mount. After a great 2017-18 Sheffield Shield season, he started badly this year but has improved in recent innings.

Labuschagne brings enthusiasm and other skills. He had two wickets and a run-out before he had a run in Test cricket. The South African-born 24-year-old is a hunch bet, much like Steve Waugh was when he came into Test cricket.

Labuschagne’s first class average is 33.17, but he’s better than that. His Sheffield Shield average in 2018-19 is 28.2, but it’s on the rise after a difficult post UAE re-entry. His last season for the Bulls was impressive: 795 runs at an average of 39.75 with a pair of centuries and a quartet of halfs.

Only Renshaw scored more runs.

The line from Langer that has caused angst this week was when he said “most of our batters who are knocking on the door are averaging in the 30s”.

Really?

That makes you wonder about the likes of Matthew Wade, Joe Burns, Tom Cooper, Jake Lehmann, Kurtis Patterson and Dan Hughes.

One veteran state cricketer asked if the former West Australian coach was aware of Wade and Burns’s numbers and pondered if something else was at play.

It’s a fair point, as their statistics are good and they are not averaging in the 30s.

Wade, who played for Australia as a wicketkeeper before Tim Paine came back in last summer, is one of the best batsmen in first class cricket over a fair period.

Last year he scored 654 runs at 43.6, hardly enough to kick down the door of a team that had just won the Ashes, but these are different times.

 

This season, Wade is lapping the competition. He has made 571 runs at an average of 63 and has been past 50 on six occasions. Yes, he bats down the order, but runs are runs are runs and nobody is asking him to open.

Burns was good enough to open in the fourth Test of the South African series. This year the opener has 472 runs at 47.2.

You’d think there might be a vacancy there, even if it is to give Aaron Finch a chance to bat where he is most suited.

Joe Burns was good enough to open in the fourth Test in South Africa. Picture: Nigel Hallett

In the absence of any other information, people are speculating that Wade and Burns are, perhaps, “not the blokes the selectors want’’.

Wade is an old-school cricketer. Schooled in the Victorian traditions before joining Tasmania, he’s not out there to make friends with opponents. He’s a punish if you are listening to him keep to spinners, but it’s role playing.

You could be sure if he was told he could play for Australia on the condition he hand out roses to the other side, he’d comply.

Here’s an insight into Victorian cricketer from Marcus Harris, who began first-class life in Western Australia before moving to Melbourne.

“When we played against Victoria, as a WA person it’s the team where you go, ‘I hate playing against them. They really get stuck into you. They’re the hardest team to play against’, and everyone’s in awe of them a little bit, almost to the point where people are scared of them,” he told ESPNcric­info earlier this summer.

“I used to hate playing against Wadey, then I found as soon as I came to Victoria, he was the bloke I got along with just about the best,” he said. “Finchy used to always give it to you, Peter Handscomb used to give it to you, but I found that when you play for Victoria, they don’t go out of their way (to get at you), they don’t talk about it in the pre-match, that’s just the way they are, and it’s sort of addictive.”

There are others who aren’t banging the door down, but they are posting mid-40s averages.

Cooper is having his best year ever for South Australia, with 501 runs at 46. Lehmann is also doing well. He has 461 runs at 46. Hughes has 462 runs at 46 and Patterson has 428 at 47.5.

It’s worth noting that if you take 2000 runs as a minimum, there have only ever been 38 players in the history of Sheffield Shield cricket who average over 50.