We thought we were done with this exercise.
After weeks and months of projection and speculation we landed on an opening pair for the Perth Test and went into it with great clarity and assuredness.
Two whirlwind days of Test cricket later and we’ve got a bit to contemplate.
Jake Weatherald and Usman Khawaja were the anointed two, yet whilst the former batted twice the latter went persona non grata.
A back issue combined with horrendous timing led to Marnus Labuschagne jumping into opener last minute in the first innings, and then history will well remember when lightning struck Khawaja’s back twice, Travis Head stepped up, and you all know how that ended.
With focus now towards Brisbane, and with many questions to answer, many combinations to mull, we’re back to calm the nerves.
So let’s keep this narrow, let’s not consider anyone and everyone, let’s forego with trying to rank Will Salzmann as the eighth-best opener in the country, let’s focus in on who is in play.
Firstly, we won’t be considering Khawaja, this column has been harsh, but it would be the right call if we can find the right way to handle it.
The mistake was him playing the first Test, alas, old ground, let’s look forward. We have an 85-Test match veteran, a 14-year international career where he has averaged 43. Only 15 have scored more test runs for Australia than Khawaja, this has been no mug career.
The problem, and from this column it will sound contradictory, is the how. If you drop Khawaja from the team, you’d be retiring him. I suspect the best part of 10 days rest (no golf please, Usman) will see him get over the back spasms and he would be fit for selection, so he wouldn’t be unavailable via injury.
He isn’t going to go back to the Shield to find form and come back for Boxing Day. That would be that. Is that how his career ends? It’s hard to marry up the right selection call given the here and now. How that unfolds, unsure, but let’s assess the next steps.
Sam Konstas takes a swing at the SCG. (Photo by Morgan Hancock – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Firstly, who are those in the wings?
Sam Konstas: Not now, he made a nice 40 in the first innings at Cricket Central, with the second innings still going. But we know where this story eventuates, back in the test team, eventaully, prestigious talent. But not for now.
Campbell Kellaway: Two failures this round, pink ball at the Gabba, only one Shield century so far this season, but has shown his wares, it’s not required this summer (thankfully), but at some point we still expect Kellaway and Konstas to team up and look terrific.
Henry Hunt: Another half-century on the weekend, averaging 42 this season, matching a lot of what Weatherald achieved last summer. But what I really like is that his crease occupation is up on last season, Hunt is batting another eight overs on his very credible numbers in 2024-25, which as an opener, especially what we saw in that two-day Test in Perth, should not go underrated.
Turns 29 during the Sydney Test, only Renshaw, Pete Handscomb and Marnus have made more runs this season, he is right where we’d like him. One to keep an eye on if and when.
We note Cam Bancroft has looked good of late, this column definitely highlights that Tim Ward has picked it up finally, huge century to break his duck this season, but these two and others are too far on the outer.
So we move to those in consideration:
Jake Weatherald: The incumbent, baggy green #472, how good! Looked like a debutant in the first innings for a single-digit score, how much did the Khawaja kerfuffle imapct things? Maybe, not sure.
This column is an unabashed Weatherald fan, but his second-innings 23 is getting overrated. His partnership with Head put on 75 for the first wicket, which was grouse. But it was 23. He did bat almost an hour, which in the context was important. But it was a 23. Crucially though he has only played one Test, he has more time, we’re good.
Travis Head: This column feels somewhat vindicated for including him in this process. I report back to our July summation on Head as an opening option: “Should he do it? God no. Do we really want to play this card? Not on my watch. Would it solve the problem, and actually solve another at the same time? Yes.
“Trav, come in, go nuts, you’ve got ten goes at opening the batting across the summer, we reckon you could crash and bash you way to a ripping score by lunch in six or seven of those, and that would be a pass.”
Almost on the money! But if you open with Head you don’t get him in the middle order, and that’s not nothing.
Queensland opener Matthew Renshaw. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)
Matt Renshaw: And herein lies the alternative. My number one opener in the country, not Weatherald, not Head, not Khawaja. Renshaw was already top of the pops for mine, and then in a pink ball match against one of the better bowling units peels off yet another first-class century.
Already has three centuries from six Shield innings and all before the end of November; no-one made more than that all season in 24-25, he is head and shoulders above anyone else. Doesn’t turn 30 until Easter, if there’s the right context to pick him for Brisbane against the pink ball, when he just made a 100 on that very ground with the exact same ball, you do it. Don’t go past Go, don’t get $200, just do it.
Two options then. You keep Head and Weatherald, the South Australian connection, and you bring Josh Inglis or Beau Webster in to bat at six (putting Cam Green up to five). Or you put Head back to five and bring in Renshaw.
This could go either way but once more we refer to a Richie Benaud principle, in that you choose what the opposition would least prefer. In that context, England don’t want to see Head again at the top of the order. If I’m Australia I look to rinse and repeat whilst the wounds are still fresh.
If Australia need to reassess for Adelaide, or Melbourne, and return Head to five, we rest in the knowledge Renshaw is there in the wings and ready. Hopefully Weatherald would have established himself by then, if not this column will circle back into your lives once more to dissect another twist in the tale.
Until the Brisbane test, enjoy your Black Friday shopping.
>Cricket News
%20(3).jpeg)
0 Comments