The Australian selectors have shown their hand by anointing Jake Weatherald as the next opener who can succeed at Test level by picking him in the extended squad for the Ashes series opener.
They may as well give him a chance in Perth rather than taking the not-so-safe option of picking Marnus Labuschagne out of position.
It would be yet another sideways step by the gun-shy selectors to pair Labuschagne with Usman Khawaja for the Ashes rather than building for the future by handing Weatherald his first baggy green cap.
Khawaja will turn 39 during the third Test in Adelaide and – assuming he retains his spot throughout the series – if he does not retire after the Ashes finale in Sydney, then the selectors would be derelict in their duty if they did not take him out the back of the famous Members Stand dressing room and tell him the time has come to draw the curtain on his career.
Weatherald has not so much bided his time at Sheffield Shield level but the 31-year-old never really threatened the Test team until recently.
In his decade-long career, for the most part with South Australia and in recent years with Tasmania, he has only averaged more than 42 once – last season.
What the likes of Jamie Siddons, Jamie Cox, Martin Love and Stuart Law must think about the standards required to make the Test team these days compared to a generation ago when they churned out bulk runs every summer only to be constantly overlooked.
Weatherald’s chances seem to hinge on whether Cameron Green can prove that his back injury has healed and that he can be relied upon to bowl around 10 overs per innings to back up the four frontliners.
If the Western Australian all-rounder is good to go, he is set to slide back to No.6 at the expense of the unlucky Beau Webster with Labuschagne returning at first drop and Weatherald facing the new pill alongside Khawaja.
Green will roll the arm over for WA next week in their Shield game against Queensland at the WACA Ground to prove he’s untroubled by his back surgery last summer and a recent side strain.
Chief selector George Bailey said Weatherald’s ability to score at a decent clip was seen as a key attribute in him getting the nod over dumped young gun Sam Kontas and rejuvenated Queensland leftie Matt Renshaw
Queensland opener Matthew Renshaw. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)
“He scores at four runs an over and has some attacking strengths without being cavalier,” Bailey said in his Wednesday media conference after the squad was announced.
“A lot of discussion was centred around the method and the way we’d like that player to play.
“How they play naturally and then how we feel like that might complement other players that are potentially around them.
“If you look at his performance over 18 months to 24 months, it’s been really solid.”
Bailey got shirty after he was asked about former Australia captain Steve Waugh’s criticism of his inability to make tough calls on ageing stars.
“George Bailey’s going to have to make some tough calls,” Waugh said.
“I think in the past he’s shown he hasn’t really had the appetite for that at times. So he’s going to have to step up to the plate with the other selectors.
“I’d like to see the selectors pick the sides, not the players.”
Bailey employed the Ron Swanson tactic, a la Parks and Recreation, of answering questions with queries of his own to shoot them down.
“My question back, is there a tipping number once a player hits an age you move them on?” Bailey said.
Australia chief selector George Bailey. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
“Is that what it should be for all the guys in the team still performing? Should that be the most important criteria?”
The answer to these questions is clearly no – there is not a set age where players should be tapped on the shoulder.
But his selection panel has an extensive track record of giving fading veterans repeated chances when their form tapers off, most notably David Warner and Khawaja in the Test arena, along with Aaron Finch, Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis with the white-ball squads.
Waugh would make a great selector and if he shows any inkling of wanting to fill the role, Cricket Australia should be beating down his door.
He was never afraid to be unpopular if it meant making his team better.
In 1999, he made arguably the biggest selection call in Australian cricket history when he dropped spin king Shane Warne from the Test side.
Warne had been under-performing in his return from shoulder surgery and it seemed unthinkable at the time and even less so now, but Waugh had the guts to tell his vice-captain that he was not going to play in the decisive fourth Test of the series in the Caribbean against a fading but still threatening West Indies side with Brian Lara in career-best form.
Back then the line-ups were selected by the captain, his deputy and the coach on tours.
Warne wrote in his book No Spin that coach Geoff Marsh was also against the idea and even after consulting former skipper Allan Border for his wise counsel, Waugh went ahead with his brave call: “I’m going with my gut here. Sorry, guys”.
Almost two decades later, Warne wrote: “I understand he had a job to do. He wanted to win the game and, yes, they went on to win it and draw the series, but who’s to say they wouldn’t have won it with me in the team?”
Steve Waugh hits out on his way to 177 not out in 1989 at Headingley. (Photo by Ben Radford/Getty Images)
Waugh has kept a distance from the modern-day teams since his retirement more than 20 years ago and unlike most of his predecessors, he did not make the cosy transition into the commentary box to pass judgement on the next generation.
He has also felt the sting of a selector making a harsh call against him, on two notable occasions during his playing career – when he was dropped from the Test side to be replaced by his twin brother Mark in 1991 and 11 years later when they were both punted from the ODI side with a World Cup just 12 months away.
Cricket Australia trumpeted the fact that there were three uncapped players in the 15-man squad for the first Test – Weatherald and back-up quick Brendan Doggett are 31 and Sean Abbott is 33.
Bailey also mentioned Michael Neser, 35, as being a potential option in the series.
With Konstas punted, Cameron Green is back to being the only player under 30 in the squad.
He must get sick of explaining what TikTok is to the rest of the team.
If England had decided to send out a team this old, the Dad’s Army headlines would be thick and fast.
The safety net for Bailey, coach Andrew McDonald and fellow selector Tony Dodemaide is that the Aussies should have more than enough firepower with this squad to retain the Ashes in a canter even if Khawaja continues to struggle, Weatherald is not up to Test level or Labuschagne’s return is a fizzer.
England, for all their Bazball bluff and bluster, also have a fragile top order plus their top batter in Joe Root has never succeeded on Australian wickets and their bowling attack revolves around a couple of injury-prone quicks, a bunch of inexperienced lesser seamers and an ineffective spinner.
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