World Cup Squad Questions Getting Closer to Answers

If the Australian selectors were using the one-day series against India as a method of deciding who they were going to choose in their World Cup squad for this year’s tournament in England, they should have had some of those decisions now made for them. Performances, good or otherwise, have been to my eyes extremely obvious in showing those who can almost book their ticket to England, and those who can plan for an Australian winter at home. These decisions are not a matter of age nor are they a matter of youth, but instead come down to actual performance in those three matches.

Not all of the performances have been clear cut, nor can it be guaranteed that the selection of those players involved in those particular performances is iron clad. Indeed, it will still take a great deal of sorting to work out which of the players will still fit in with the selection of the World Cup squad and those who will no longer be required. There also is still no doubt that the balance of the squad will be dictated by the return of both Smith and Warner to the one-day team, should they be fit and should they be considered.

Some of the questions that should be asked and perhaps answered from this series are as follows:

1. Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja cannot play in the same team. Though both Marsh and Khawaja were the best performed batsmen in this three match series, it seems unlikely that both will be able to be accommodated in the same team when the World Cup begins. With both Warner and Smith being required to be in the top four in this team, the only way both Marsh and Khawaja can play is if Aaron Finch Is left out of the top four, which appears unlikely in the long run. Though this may seem harsh or even inconceivable given the woes of Australia’s top order, as a matter of team balance it is a fairly obvious point that will come under consideration. While an accumulator is probably a necessary evil in the top four in the current line up it is not something that the team can afford two of. There also seems little likelihood that either would be considered in the vital middle order spots. Both have batted well but at this point in time they are obvious candidates to be facing as many balls as possible at the top of the order. Thus one of them will have to miss out, given that Warner is likely to take the opening position alongside Finch and Smith will likely return at number three or four. With further one-day games to come in India and Pakistan before the World Cup squad needs to be announced this is one of the positional questions that will need an answer sooner rather than later.

2. How much leeway will Finch receive as captain in this team. This time last season Finch was Australia’s leading one-day batsmen scoring three centuries against England before injury came to keep him out of the remainder of the series. Having been announced as the captain of the one-day team following the suspension of Smith and the dropping of Paine he has barely made a run and it is starting to affect the team balance. Though as captain he cannot be held completely responsible for the form of the one-day team the fact that he is unable to score runs at the top of the order and get the team off to the start that it needs is creating major problems for the middle order. in in this way is creating the basis of the losses that are coming. His form has left his team and the selectors in a quandary. Having been anointed as the leader of the team to the World Cup a full nine months before the tournament begins, he now appears to have sewn up a spot despite the fact his form is completely lost. Unless he is able to find a reverse gear and quickly, his poor run will be held against him and his team as they move into the Cup itself. He still has time on his side, but further losses by the team combined with a continued lack of runs will be an enormous pressure on both himself and his position in the squad.

3. Alex Carey as keeper and his position in the batting order, or in the team itself. Whoever’s idea it was to trial Carey at the top of the order has probably gotten the answer they were looking for. Against South Africa Carey batted at number five and spent most of the time rescuing Australia from peril. So well did he do the job that he was then asked to do it at the top of the order against India. Scores of 1,1 and 1 have probably put paid to that occurring again, but has it also put unwarranted pressure on his position in the team as a whole? Carey is the current vice captain of the ODI team and has done nothing wrong with the gloves as well as showing in the BBL that he is more than capable with the bat. The logical step is to return him to seven in the batting line up and move everyone else up one place, but already the knives appear to be out. Given Peter Handscomb’s satisfactory return to the ODI line-up it has been mentioned that perhaps could once again take the gloves, but why put that pressure on his own batting? Former keeper Matthew Wade is having a season out of the box in both Shield and BBL and is another being mentioned, while the better than expected return of Cameron Bancroft with the Scorchers has opened up another possibility. Surely the selectors have found their man in Carey and will stick with him, but stranger things have happened...

4. Glenn Maxwell‘s position in the batting order. Many have question marks over Maxwell being in the team at all, but surely he is being wasted at number seven. He made 1,1 and 1 in the three matches against India, and Langer himself has come out and said this is the role they want him to play going forward. This is fine if you are going to back him when he fails in the quest to up the run rate of save the position of the game, but if not then it feels as though he is being left to be the scapegoat if (when) something goes wrong in the top order. The role looks to be set now, and if so hopefully this has been fully conveyed to Maxwell and he knows exactly what is expected of him. He deserves that much at least.

5. Adam Zampa and the spin position in the team. Nathan Lyon got the first two games to try and nail down a spot in the future squad, and while reasonably economical he did not take a wicket or look threatening to do so, which would be the reason he would be selected. Zampa looked like the afterthought again until getting the third game where he bowled well enough, also without taking a wicket. Dhoni blocking out his final over gave him an interesting boost. Other squads around the world are showing that to be successful you need to have a leg spinner in your team. England has Rashid, South Africa has Tahir, New Zealand has Sodhi, India has several, Pakistan has several. Australia is falling behind the game even though the BBL is also proving a wrist spinner is almost essential to success. It boggles the mind that with all of this in front of them that the selectors still have not promoted Fawad Ahmed to this level again. It could well be their undoing down the track. Surely, with matches in India and UAE to come, Fawad will get a chance to showcase his talents.

6. Old dogs or new kids in the bowling. Though Peter Siddle has been given his chance on the back of his form in England last winter, his performances in this series must show that what he has to offer is probably not sufficient to help Australia win a World Cup. The form of Jhye Richardson has pushed him well in front in the selection stakes in this regard, and despite the push the selectors have made with Siddle in the last six months you would suspect he can plan for a Melbourne winter instead. Especially considering that Starc and Cummins, and hopefully a fit Hazlewood, should come back into this squad, probably with a fit and firing Nathan Coulter-Nile.

7. Are Short and Lynn still in the firing line. Both played against South Africa without being able to cement their spot, and then both missed out on the Indian ODI’s. D’Arcy Short in particular keeps piling on the runs in the BBL, while Chris Lynn is as hit and miss as ever, being brilliant when he comes off but a disappointment when he throws his wicket away. At this stage it looks like only one of the two could make the squad unless different decisions are made. So who do you go for – the one who consistently scores the runs but has an obvious weakness against spin bowling, or the guy who if he comes off will win you a match off his own bat, but it may only happen in one of every four matches? The selectors may take both, but given the balance needed my guess is only one will go to England.

8. Who will miss out if you need to squeeze in Warner and Smith? There’s only fifteen spots for the World Cup tour, and not everyone can go. I’ve already mentioned Short and Lynn, but what about Handscomb if he is just considered a batsman? Can he still find a place once the two suspended players come back in? What about Travis Head who has been in the ODI team the last World Cup. Can he find a way back? It’s going to be a tough scenario, and balance is always the key, but you can be sure that the team that played the last ODI on Friday won’t be even close to what takes the field in the first World Cup match come June. 

Australia still has at least five ODI’s before the World Cup squads must be announced, and one can only imagine what sort of combinations will be used before their final decisions are reached. Or perhaps the selectors already know what they are going to do.

For my part, if I was picking a team today, this is what I would take, for better or worse. 

Aaron Finch ©
Dave Warner
Shaun Marsh
Steve Smith
Glenn Maxwell
Marcus Stoinis
Alex Carey (vc)
Pat Cummins
Mitch Starc
Fawad Ahmed / Adam Zampa
Josh Hazlewood (pending fitness) 

Usman Khawaja
D’Arcy Short / Chris Lynn
Jhye Richardson
Nathan Coulter-Nile