With the Australian cricket team’s summer getting underway recently, everyone is asking the big question: who will open the batting against India?
The Australian selectors let everybody know that the Steve Smith experiment was over and a new partner for Usman Khawaja would be selected.
People have identified four candidates for the opening role: Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris, Sam Konstas and Nathan McSweeney.
The problem with these four batters is that none of them have proven themselves.
Nathan McSweeney. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft dominate at first-class level, but as their statistics show, they both fail to transfer this to Test cricket.
Marcus Harris has averaged 25.3 in 26 innings with only three Test 50s, while Bancroft is only slightly better with an average of 26.2 in 18 innings with three Test 50s.
Sam Konstas scored twin centuries in the Sheffield Shield earlier in the season but is only 19 years old and has only played seven first-class games.
Nathan McSweeney seems the best candidate out of the four; however, he has no experience as an opener, and it would most likely be a repeat of the Steve Smith experiment.
Selectors admitted that the experiment was the wrong decision, but everyone knows the Australian team loves continuity and consistency, which was why Smith was originally chosen to open the batting.
Travis Head has proven himself as an opening batsman, having opened three times in Tests, averaging 91, and continuously opened the innings for the one-day team, averaging 53 across 36 innings.
One of the problems with the Usman Khawaja and Smith duo at the top of the order was that they were both slow scorers, often considered as batsmen for others to bat around.
However, Head has a strike rate of 64.7 in Test cricket, and in the last four years of his Test career, he has had an average strike rate of 79.2.
Travis Head. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
With Cameron Green ruled out with injury, a concern has surfaced that there won’t be enough options to give the strike bowlers a rest.
Although the selectors are obviously not concerned, as they have Mitchell Marsh in the middle order and also Head and Marnus Labuschagne, who can bowl overs throughout the innings. This versatility means Australia can still afford to go with another specialist batsman – someone like Peter Handscomb.
Handscomb has a Test average of 37.2, including an average of 47.2 in Australia.
Handscomb was ninth last season for runs in the Sheffield Shield, fourth in the 22/23 season while only playing half of the games, scoring 634 runs at an average of 70.4, and led the competition in the 21/22 season, scoring 697 runs at an average of 49.8.
Handscomb also scored 894 runs at an average of 74.5 in last year’s County Championship as well as led the one-day cup competition with 539 runs at an average of 67.4, including a combined six 100s last season.
Peter Handscomb. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Handscomb was also the fourth leading run-scorer for Australia in his Test return against India in the 22/23 Border-Gavaskar trophy, including an unbeaten 72.
Handscomb already has one 50 and two 100s this season, including 104 against South Australia in the mid-week one-day game.
Handscomb is now 33 and is seemingly in the prime of his career, and with Head’s record as an opener, surely this option needs to be considered by the Australian selectors.
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