Despite having Australia’s entire pace attack withdrawn from its team to contest this week’s Sheffield Shield match against Queensland, the New South Wales second string pace attack managed just fine, helping the Blues to cruise to a six wicket victory well inside three days at Allan Border Field. And while the debate on just how many XI’s New South Wales could field that would still be competitive in the current Sheffield Shield competition is an interesting one (three is my guess), the conversation of the match revolved around the desperate situation Matt Renshaw finds himself a day out from the Test selection announcement, and the continuing push by Dan Hughes to force his way into calculations.
Renshaw’s case now lies solely in the selection panel’s opinion on what they have so far invested in him at Test level, and whether than still outweighs the form he has shown on the field in first class cricket. No doubt the selector-on-duty at Allan Border Field will take into account his misfortune in both of his dismissals in this match – adjudged caught behind in the first innings for 16 which he certainly didn’t believe he had hit, and then the classic leg side strangle to be caught behind again for just 1 in the second innings. As he watched the number of times that Warner, Maddinson and Smith all edged through or over slips in both innings of this match, Renshaw would have been thinking hard on the huge role luck has to play in cricket. At the moment he is receiving none, while others seem to be swimming in it.
Renshaw is still only 21 years of age, and has done a lot of things right since his unexpected call to the top of the Australian top order this time last year. He has been good at first slip in a team that was crying out for one, his smile lights up the field when he flashes it, and along the way he even scored some runs – quite a few on occasions. He fought through adversity on the recent tours of India and Bangladesh, and while the figures don’t show it he was one of the few batsmen to return home with his reputation fully intact. While his six innings in Shield cricket this season have only brought forth 73 runs at 12.17, it would be a decision of outrageous hypocrisy by the National Selection Panel if they were to leave him out of the team for the 1st Test. He is the future on which they hoped to build the team on, when they selected him twelve months ago. To abandon him now would be to the detriment of what they hope to achieve.
Daniel Hughes has been a different kettle of fish, with his position in the New South Wales team having been mandated by a selection panel that believe he is a future Australian representative, and thus was required to play in these early Shield games above others, notably Ed Cowan. Above all else, he has succeeded as well, and perhaps even done better than anyone would have imagined. His 98 not out here in the first innings is quite possibly the difference between the winning and losing of the match for the Blues, as it set up a lead from which Queensland was unable to put enough runs past to fully pressure the batting line up in the second innings. He also secured the high ground for his team with his 57 in the first match against South Australia. His six innings of 57, 7 not out, 25, 1, 98 not out and 23 not out leave him with 211 runs at 70.33, and he has fulfilled his brief superbly. Cameron Bancroft’s unignorably wonderful form will probably mean he won’t be in Test calculations this week, but he has certainly put his name in front of the panel for further consideration.
The massive margin of victory in this match is something that should be more of a talking point than it will be. The pace bowling quartet of Doug Bollinger, Trent Copeland, Sean Abbott and all-rounder Moises Henriques did a fantastic job in both innings, along with the help of Test spinner Nathan Lyon. Bollinger and Abbott were hostile, while Copeland was as patient as always. These three both know their roles. They are not the first choice bowlers anymore when the trio of Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins are available, and yet they single handedly took down a full strength Queensland team inside three days. Bollinger took 3/38 and 3/65, and continues to show why he was once a firm part of the Test team. It seems amazing that he has not played a Test match in seven years. Copeland was again a metronome, taking 3/33 off 23 overs and 1/25 off 14 overs. Here is another former Test bowler, whose only fallacy seems to be he doesn’t bowl at 140kph. He has never let New South Wales down. Abbott provided spark again with his 1/42 and 4/65, with his sneaky pace still as big an asset as it was when he was chosen for the ODI and T20 team three years ago. Still only 25 years of age and a more than handy batsman he still has time to make an impact at a higher level. These three were wonderful in winning this match for their team, and yet they can’t make the full strength line up.
Behind them even come bowlers such as Harry Conway, Gurinder Sandhu, Mickey Edwards and others on the rise. New South Wales is a tough place to get a game, as can be seen by the number of former New South Welshmen plying their trade in other state teams, including Test 12th Man Jackson Bird. Hopefully batting-wise at least, there will be a Queenslander at the top of the order this time next week in the Test team.
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