Cricket - 5 Thoughts from Australia's Tours of England and Zimbabwe
1. Langer's Rough Start
Things were never likely to be easy for new Australian coach Justin Langer when he took over from Darren Lehmann this winter. However, he would have had plenty to think about on the way home after Australia returned trophyless from England and Zimbabwe. Langer would have squirmed as his side were beaten six times on the trot by England, at times humbled embarrassingly so. Australia also missed the chance to return with some silverware with Pakistan winning the T20 series final to win the T20 Tri-series in Zimbabwe. Australia could muster just three wins from eleven games overall, with two of those coming against Zimbabwe. With a high stakes homes series against India, followed by a 50-Over World Cup in 2019 in England, and Ashes series and a T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020, Langer would have left with more questions than answers about the likely make up of those squads going forward.
2. Finch States His Case To Lead Both Forms
Aaron Finch was one of the few positives to emerge for Australia, as he proved, at least in my opinion, to be clearly the best candidate to open the batting and lead Australia in white-ball cricket over the next 18 months. After a bizarre experiment batting Finch at Number 5 early in the England tour, he returned to his natural opening position with authority, playing some thumping innings. Finch scored a century against England in Game 3, before making 84 in the lone T20 game. He then bludgeoned 306 runs in Zimbabwe as Captain, at an average of 76 and strike rate over 200, demonstrating his brutal power and devastating ability to take away the game from the opposition in the Power Play. There has been talk that Finch is the fittest he has ever been and at 31 he should still enjoy a few more years as a batsman at near the peak of his powers. With World Cups in both 50-over and 20-over cricket on the horizon, it makes sense to have the same experienced leader in both forms who is guaranteed a spot in both sides, and Finch fits that bill.
3. Stanlake the pick of struggling pace attack
With Australia’s three most experienced and best fast bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins all rested from these tours, there was a real opportunity for a new pace asset to emerge. Whilst Kane Richardson struggled, and Jhye Richardson was inconsistent, Billy Stanlake clearly provided the biggest seam threat on both tours. It would have been encouraging to see Stanlake play nine games at full fitness in a short period of time, as well as make an impact on both tours, despite Australia’s bowlers struggling mightily at times, particularly in England. Big Billy picked up 6 wickets in 4 ODI’s in England, before taking 7 wickets at an average of 17, and an economy under 7 in the T20 Tri-series in Zimbabwe. With his height, bounce and pace a rare commodity, Stanlake has also excelled in the BBL the past two seasons. With Australia likely to rely heavily on Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins in Test cricket, Stanlake could well play a big role in both T20 and 50-Over World Cups as he edged himself ahead of other contenders.
4. Leave Paine for Test Cricket
After being widely praised for his performances in Test cricket since his return and his interim leadership, this was a chastising couple of weeks for Tim Paine - a reality check in some respects of how hard a game cricket can be when you're leading a patchwork side and your own form starts to fail you. I found it surprising that Langer and the selectors opted to go with Paine as the 50-Over Captain in England. Obviously the thinking was that he could provide the calm and experienced head that he did in a tumultuous time in South Africa. However, I feel it came with a double edged sword for the future. For a man who nearly retired from cricket two years ago, and was not a regular for Tasmania, Paine now has a lot on his plate as Captain of the Test Team for the foreseeable future. Paine has had plenty of injuries over his long career, and I think it would have been best for him to be told to focus all his energies for the next 18 months on captaining the Test side. Now, having lost 5-0 over in England, and having experienced a wretched series with the bat and as Captain, it erodes his confidence and stature somewhat.
5. Khawaja the Odd man Out
A penny for Usman Khawaja’s thoughts, who at a time when Australia are missing their two best batsmen, couldn't even muster a spot on the plane for either white-ball series in England and Zimbabwe. Whilst the lies of Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stonis and Darcy Short experienced mixed tours Khawaja was running amok for Glamorgan, peeling off three straight centuries in his first three County games for the Club. Whilst Khawaja has a moderate ODI record averaging 31 from 18 games, at a time when Australia are lacking genuine run scorers, it’s mystifying he has been ignored given his List A record and Big Bash form when given opportunies over the past few seasons. Averaging over 45 in domestic cricket in Australia, his 50-over record is superior to both his Test and First Class averages, having scored nine hundreds opening the batting. Khawaja made a statement over in England, at the same time the Australian team were being swept, by . Khawaja is younger than Aaron Finch and could provide a strong option at the top of the order in a side light on players who have scored plenty of hundreds in their career.