What the past nine months has shown up glaringly is just how much Australia’s batting relied on two players. There’s no doubt that most of us already knew this, but while they were still in the team, saving our bacon on a regular basis, we didn’t have to worry about what would happen if they WEREN’T there. This has been glaringly exposed now in all forms of the game. The good news is that unlike in the past where the retirements of most of our best players at once or the subsequent banning of a large group of players for going on a rebel tour of South Africa, these three banned players will be available again in a matter of months. While this will plug some theoretical holes Australia still needs to find a way to come out of this situation stronger than it went in to it.
Does this require the same sort of foresight and hard-nosed attrition that those in charge back in the mid-1980’s went through in order to unearth the players they needed to return the team to a position of dominance? By their own admission, they sought out young cricketers with ability but also with the right attitude on and off the field to do so. The selection panel led by Lawrie Sawle and the person who had been appointed in the newly created role of ‘coach’ Bob Simpson, mixed and matched to find the right people. They came up with Geoff Marsh, an unfashionable opener who blunted the bowling but rarely dominated it; Merv Hughes, an unfashionable huffing and puffing fast bowler whom some loved and others felt was overrated; Bruce Reid, an unfashionable gangling tall left arm fast bowler who proved as difficult to play as it was to keep him on the field; Steve Waugh, a teenage wunderkind whose all-round skills made him a valuable asset, if he could ever score runs, and later Ian Healy, who was plucked from being Queensland’s #2 wicket-keeper into the Australian job and Mark Taylor as another accumulator at the top of the order with a smart head on his shoulders. Meshed together with David Boon, Dean Jones, Geoff Lawson, Craig McDermott and their indomitable leader Allan Border, over a three year period this investment in ‘the right player’ brought the reward of winning back the Ashes, and provided the platform for the team becoming the best in the world. There was no lack of trust required with the selectors having to stick with each of these players through lean times in order to reap the eventual rewards, and it was tough time to follow Australian cricket for those of us who are old enough to have lived through it. But the result of that hard work paid off for almost two decades.
Is this where Australia needs to go again? Is it time to draw a line in the sand and start investing in certain players over the next 2-3 years in order to rebuild our team into a world class outfit? If it is, then there is not as much work ahead as there was between 1985-89. Australia’s bowling attack is world class, and with back up in the form of players such as James Pattinson, Chris Tremain, Jhye Richardson and Jackson Bird just to name a few the pace bowling stocks are overflowing. The spin bowling isn’t quite as talented but Jon Holland, Steve O’Keefe, Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa have all had international experience to call on if required. And if a wicket-keeper batsman was needed, then any of the State team incumbents could fill the spot worthily.
The batting needs some serious thought going forward, and absolutely every cricket fan in Australia has an opinion on what should be done, and who should or shouldn’t be chosen. I’m no different.
A lot of time has been spent on bringing on Mitch Marsh as the answer to the apparently necessary all-rounder position. His record so far in Test cricket is well known and less than exemplary. Most pundits think he should be jettisoned. But can Australian cricket afford to cast aside a 30 Test player who has only just turned 27 years of age? It is easy to say he’s had his chance – a number of them – but he has been the selectors project player for some time. Theoretically if the selectors are looking to form this kind of pattern, he still has to be a part of it.
Travis Head has been another long-time project, lauded since his debut for South Australia. He has been a part of the one-day setup since the last World Cup, and now through vacancies opening up he has played the last three Test matches. In that time, he has shown fight and grit, with flashes of his natural flair as well. Like Ricky Ponting before him, he has had a good grounding in International cricket through the ODI format before he was exposed to Test cricket. His initial success is something the selectors will be hoping to see continue. He is certainly one that they need to retain faith with now he has been given his opportunity.
On the other side of the page however is a player like Matt Renshaw. Thrown in at the deep end during the last Australian crisis after the Hobart debacle against South Africa two years ago, he succeeded beyond expectation, especially in India in 2017 when he batted time with patience. Then for some unfathomable reason he was cast aside twelve months ago and has been in a holding pattern since. His form has suffered because of this, and he needs some sort of reassurance that he is still in the mix in order to help him regain the form he had to make the team in the first place. He was not a project player when initially chosen but surely needs that kind of faith and help now if Australia is to see the best of him again in the future.
Beyond these three recent examples, how soon is too soon to be giving the future generation of batsmen their opportunity at the top level? Without try to put too much pressure on them to succeed, when should the next kids be pushed to being given a chance? Australia stuck with Steve Waugh for three years without a Test century because his bowling was so valuable and his batting showed the toughness and temperament required to succeed. The 1989 Ashes tour saw him come of age, three and a half years after his debut. Even so, it really wasn’t until 1995 and the series win in the West Indies, some nine years after his debut, that he became the great batsman everyone now knows him as. People often forget his tough years, they just remember the golden age.
Will Pucovski won’t be 21 years old until February. He has already taken time away from the game for a mental health issue. Yet after only eight first class games he averages 49 with the bat and has two centuries. Not little ones either – 188 against Queensland in February and 243 against Western Australia in October. Just as impressive was his 67 in the second innings of this week’s Shield match, his first game back since his break. It showed a toughness and resilience that is not dissimilar to a young Steve Waugh 30-odd years ago. He excelled through under age cricket and second XI cricket. When you watch him bat he looks like a batsman, one with the technique and drive to succeed.
Jason Sangha is only 19 years old, and captained Australia’s Under 19 team in the World Cup in February. A couple of months before that he scored his first century in first class cricket in a match against the touring England team. This season he and fellow Under 19 alumni Jack Edwards have been given their chance in the New South Wales Sheffield Shield team. Sangha started slowly and was being batted at seven. He was chosen to play in the Prime Ministers XI team against South Africa, and Sangha’s 38 was significant as he and skipper George Bailey got the team to victory. From that point his season has gone forward, being moved up the order to number five and scoring his second century the following week, 117 against a Tasmanian team skippered by Bailey. He also has played 8 first class matches, averaging 31.38 with two centuries, but his extra bow is that he bowls good part time leg spin, and took 3/80 against Victoria in October. He has batted to the occasion for the Blues this season, in more than one innings throwing his wicket away in the quest for quick runs.
I’m not suggesting for a minute that these two young men should be thrown straight into the fire now and given national selection. Neither is ready, and Australia’s situation is not so dire as to go down that path. But given the chop-and-change attitude of the selectors in regards to our batsmen in recent years, is it not time to take a measured approach and start looking ahead to the next 3-5 years and see where we want to be at that time, and which players may be a part of that. There is no quick fix. Within weeks the three banned players will be available for selection again, and no one would doubt that all three will be in Australia’s Ashes squad in six months' time. To all intents and purposes, THAT will be the ‘quick fix’. What comes beyond that though, especially if (please no) we lose the Ashes? How soon do we start to look to build up our next generation of star batsmen? An Australian Test summer against Pakistan and the West Indies? Twelve months is a long time in cricket – look where Australia was this time last year. Maybe the time for the next generation is not that far away.
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