With the Australian cricket scene sidling back into the maligned Sheffield Shield competition for the remaining weeks of the season, the final preparations for Australia’s World Cup defence begin, with the short tour of India beginning next week. With two T20I and five ODI matches to be played, then followed by more ODI’s against Pakistan, this will be where the last challenges can be made for inclusion in the final 15 man squad to go to England in May.
Unless something goes dreadfully wrong over the course of those ten ODI matches, there are already a huge number of players locked in, and it will only be the players on the periphery that will need to succeed if they are to get a chance to make the final squad.
Captain Aaron Finch, now a tournament winning captain after the Renegades victory in the BBL final, will be hoping to use the matches on flat slow wickets to regain his touch with the bat and release that pressure from his mind. Alongside him as near-certainties will be Shaun Marsh, Alex Carey, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell. Whether it is to be debated by the general public or not, so are Steve Smith and David Warner assuming both recover from their elbow operations. That takes up most of the batting spots in the squad, with just the reserve bats to be decided.
D'Arcy Short is only on tour for a short time covering for Shaun Marsh, so you would expect he will be given the playing time for the matches he is available for. It’s a big test for him, perhaps his last chance to force himself back into World Cup contention. It will be a tough task, and will require something special from him to do it. Given that India are likely to exploit his weakness against spin from the outset, if he does succeed in making good runs it will likely count as double for him. Usman Khawaja will again push his case, and under most circumstances probably should be in the best 15. However the ODI game is changing and one now wonders whether a team can afford to have two players of a similar style batting together in the top order, as Khawaja and Marsh are. It’s an interesting conundrum, and perhaps with Smith batting between them it could work, but to do so one of them would have to open the batting, thus displacing wither Finch or Warner. Big runs from both Short and Khawaja will at least give the selectors a tough task in choosing their eventual squad – no runs just makes it easy not to take either of them.
This also leaves Peter Handscomb for consideration, and it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that he is being sneakily looked at as the keeper-batsman for the squad. He won’t get the gloves in India, but if he made runs and Carey did not then there is a chance the selectors may defer in his direction. That would be a disappointing conclusion if it did occur. Carey deserves his moment. Handscomb should have to force his way into the squad as a batsman only.
The most exciting member of the squad is the West Australia, Ashton Turner. Turner has been around for a number of season, and his hard hitting technique with the bat, excellent fielding and handy part time spin makes him an ideal candidate for any ODI team, provided he is given the opportunity and knows what his role is within the team. He is an excellent exponent of the 360 degrees of batting and is capable of shifting gears depending on the course the innings is taking. It may well be that he won’t be able to fit into the World Cup squad given those that are in front of him, but as a wild card selection with an emphasis on late order hitting and handy 2-3 overs of fill in bowling he has his chance to force that door open fully on this tour.
Of the bowling attack, it is still murky waters in regards to selection. Pat Cummins is on tour to India and a certainty, while both Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood would be considered certainties to be in the squad if they recover their fitness. That’s where the darkness lies at the moment mainly because neither will have played any ODI cricket since November last year by the time the tournament starts. That’s a risky proposition, but perhaps no more than the selection of Smith and Warner.
All the bowlers in this squad apart for Cummins are playing for a spot to England. Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon will square off again for the spinners role, with Zampa now with his nose in front. Neither did much in the ODI’s against India last month, but Zampa’s form in the BBL would look to have him as the likely pick at this stage. Their form and own contest will be fascinating.
Jhye Richardson was excellent in Australia and will only need to continue to show that kind of form to find a way into the World Cup squad. Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff and Kane Richardson have all shown good things in their opportunities against international opposition, and all three will know that if they can perform well on this tour, and the injured stars do not recover, they can be not only in the World Cup squad but perhaps be a big part of the team that plays. For them, it is a potential bowl-off for a spot in the actual World Cup XI and not just the touring fifteen.
While the conditions this tour is played in will be completely different from what they will face in England, the opposition they face now is as tough as it comes. Thus, the team as a whole, and the individuals within it, will need to be at their best if they want to win games. A series victory in India would be the perfect way to go into a World Cup. If not, then they must show that they can at least compete at this level and challenge the Indian team. Any hopes of winning in England depend on a good showing in this series.
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