I’m going to just say what I wish the Australian cricket selectors would be willing to acknowledge. We do not have the top order talent to build a big score against high-quality Test bowlers.
What we do have, however, are streaky batsman who on their day can take the game away from opponents. We must find a way to turn that into a strength.
Consider this: on a middling day, a top order swashbuckler – the likes of which we do have – can make 20 or 30, and when it’s not their day, we’re no worse off than we are with someone like Usman Khawaja or Marnus Labuschagne trying but failing to grind out an innings.
When it comes to the aforementioned grafters, I want to acknowledge that they have been great servants of Australian cricket who ideally deserve a respectful send off. But I don’t know about you all, but I’d rather win the Ashes. I just don’t believe they’ve done anything to indicate they’re going to turn things around from previous summers where they were a walking catch behind the wicket.
Usman Khawaja of Australia hits the ball to the boundary for a four during day one of the Third Test match in the series between Australia and India at The Gabba on December 14, 2024 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
The strategy I am proposing in many ways revolves around Steve Smith. Our success this summer depends upon him anchoring our innings on multiple occasions, and for this to happen we need to minimise his exposure to the new ball. And so I will say it bluntly: if he is coming in at 2 for bugger-all Test after Test, we’re shot. On the other hand, even 2 for 50 – with a blasted off Kookaburra stamp – will make it significantly easier for him. And you never know, on occasion it might be 2-200.
So what specifically, or more accurately, who specifically, would I like to see up the top of the order implementing this strategy?
At opener, I say we roll the dice on Sam Konstas. Last summer he was Mister 20 or 30 then out. I say for this summer at least, they should ask him to adopt this as the plan, not a defect. Supporting him, we ask Travis Head to basically be our martyr. Head loves the ball coming onto the bat, and yes, they’ll be trying to get him caught behind the wicket and will often succeed, but what are the chances of a few boundaries through point along the way? I’d say exceedingly high. And finally, at three, we resurrect Mitchell Marsh and ask him to swing that half tree he calls a cricket bat at whatever Jofra Archer and Mark Wood throw at him. The boy just loves facing fast bowling.
And so onto the missing man Cameron Green. How can you not rate Cam Green as a clean striker of the ball? But when I think what makes a great top order batsman (of the traditional kind who can hang around), I think about someone with great awareness of their off stump. Green so far has not done much to indicate he’s there with his game right now. If you accept my premise that it is critical for our chances of winning the Ashes to not have Steve Smith be consistently coming in at 2 for zip, I struggle to see how Cameron Green at three is anything but at liability. But what about at five? Bowlers tiring in the hot sun. A spinner. All of sudden, the liability becomes a potential strength.
So from here the order writes itself.
1. Konstas
2. Head
3. Marsh
4. Smith
5. Green
6. Webster
7. Carey
Another way to describe this order is that it is basically turning the traditional bell curve of Test runs on its head. We want quick-fire runs up the top of the order that put the pressure on the bowlers and take the shine of the ball, and accept that the bulk of our runs will come from 4-7. In my opinion, this is going to have to be the case anyway, so why not lean into that and own it?
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