As good as this ODI series victory was for the Australian team in India, it is important to note that these conditions are unlikely to be similar to the ones that await them in England. Whether there is more ball movement in the air or off a friendlier surface, and whether spin is as potent as it was in this series, we can only wait to see. India also made enough changes in their team over the final three ODI’s to suggest that they hadn’t picked their absolute best team to challenge for wins. And yet the positives for Australia outweigh any perceived problems on a tour where few could have said they expected that the visitors would win both the T20I series and the ODI series. It has not necessarily answered pending questions in regards to the upcoming World Cup, but it has certainly changed the questions that are being asked.
Never give a sucker an even break. A saying as old as the hills. In the early part of the Indian tour, Shaun Marsh was allowed to stay at home for the birth of his first child. That’s an excellent outcome for he and his family. However, it gave Usman Khawaja the chance to slot in as opener in the ODI team, and it has proven to be the ideal scenario for both himself and skipper Aaron Finch. It was instructive that for the deciding game Marsh was overlooked for Western Australian teammate Ashton Turner, a decision that has over-reaching complications for Marsh and his participation in the World Cup. Marsh played three of the five games, scoring just 29 runs. All along it has looked like only one of Khawaja and Marsh can play in the same ODI team, given the similarity of their play in this form of the game. At home Marsh looked to be a lock for the World Cup squad. Now, with Khawaja on a run streak and Marsh having given him that leg up by coming into the tour late, that whole selection debate has become a lot more difficult and intense.
On the matter of Khawaja and Finch, they have formed a good partnership, and Finch has been able to break the stranglehold of low scores that has beset his Australian summer. More importantly, the opening partnerships of 0, 83, 193, 3 and 76 are more than acceptable over a five game period, with the three larger ones at five runs an over or better.
Having spent the better part of 12 months trying to replicate the England ODI batting format of going hard from the first ball and trusting that their line-up can do so all the way through, Australia has realised it is not their go. D’Arcy Short and Chris Lynn were seen as those guys at the top of the order who could demolish a bowling attack but in the end they were unsuccessful, and Australia instead often found themselves two or three for not many and then having to have the middle order recover the situation. In India they have fallen back to better cricket, utilising the gaps in the field to hit boundaries generally along the ground rather than the aerial route. The opening partnership has been well supported by the similar stroke play of Handscomb at three, while the more adventurous hard hitting has come from Maxwell, Stoinis and Turner in the middle. The ODI’s against Pakistan will give a better idea if these batting tactics can continue to build good totals. One suspects in England Australia will need more runs than the 250-280 they are making now, but the order as it stands right now looks capable of doing that on their own terms.
Alex Carey should now have answered any critics of his position in this team. His gloves have been good, and he has contributed well with the bat. He leads well from behind the stumps and doesn’t appear to get flustered. His keeping to the spinners especially has been good, and overall he has done everything asked of him. Hopefully this question is now laid to rest.
The selection of Ashton Turner in the squad is one of the best the national selectors have made in some time. Off the back of an excellent career at Western Australia and the Perth Scorchers and a terrific BBL08, he has been given his opportunity and has taken it with both hands. His scintillating unbeaten burst of 84 off 43 deliveries to finish off the winning chase in the fourth ODI along with his two other innings and wonderful fielding has set him up to be the ‘finisher’ Australia has been looking for since Mike Hussey’s retirement. And he hasn’t even bowled his handy part-time offies yet. He is perhaps the most exciting member of this team going forward.
Not that anyone doubted he would, but Pat Cummins has become the white ball leader much in the same way as he has become the red ball leader. His series was just what Australia needed, and in leading the attack he was able to give his other charges – Jhye Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jason Behrendorff – a release of pressure and allow them to bowl without the weight bearing on their shoulders. Richardson continued on his great summer and looks to be one of the required fast bowlers for the World Cup, while Coulter-Nile would be handy in the lower order with the bat as well if he can stay fit. The clouds hovering over the fitness of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood look to be the only thing giving anyone else a look in at this stage in regards to fast bowling slots.
The selectors will be ecstatic with the showing of both Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon on this tour. Both needed to prove they should be in the team, and in their own way they have done just that. Zampa showed all of his variety and wicket-taking potential with 11 wickets in the five matches, while also going for less than six runs an over. He is hitting form at the right time, and no doubt being given consistent and continuous matches is helping that enormously. Lyon took only three wickets in three matches, but his economy rate of 4.43 was the best of any bowler on either side in the series. It appears unlikely that two spinners will be required in England, but if they do then Australia’s two best look ready for the challenge.
The big question of what to do with Steve Smith and Dave Warner is probably no closer to being answered. But what is perhaps the best outcome of all of this is – who says either has to be immediately chosen in our best ODI XI? Australia’s first engagement at the World Cup is against Afghanistan, and their second against the West Indies. Without denigrating either team’s chance of defeating Australia in those matches, the point is that the selectors aren’t beholden to choose their two returning superstars from the first match. Both should certainly still be in the 15 man World Cup squad, but if the team continues on its winning way in Pakistan then there is no immediate need to change a winning formula. Surely it would be a handy thing to have Smith and Warner in reserve should the team lose a couple of matches, and be able to inject them into the line-up – rather than putting them in from the start and leave out two guys who have been performing, just on their name and reputation alone. It is something well worth considering.
India now head into the IPL, while Australia has five further ODI encounters to play against the unpredictable Pakistan team, all of which will then culminate in the final 15 man squad having to be announced. If nothing else, Australians have been buoyed by the performances in India, and a similar effort against Pakistan will at least have fans in a positive frame of mind when we get into the real thing come end the of May.
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