Tag Archives: Green

Denialism

2023 Aus in England incl WTC, , , , , ,

I’ve become weary of writing about the failings of David Warner and his dead weight on the team, but his comments in the press today can’t be ignored. He is living in denial.

He’s quoted as saying: ‘I’ve played a lot better than what I did last time [in 2019]. I’ve got in good positions, I’m looking to score, I’ve had a couple of unlucky dismissals and then dismissals where I’ve tried to negate the swing or the seam and it’s caught the outside edge of the bat.’

So that’s it. He’s been ‘unlucky’.

‘I’m looking to score,’ he says. Then SCORE! Please!

And playing better? Yes, his average of 25.13 so far this series does indeed surpass the 9.50 he recorded in the 2019 Ashes series, but it’s hardly good enough for Australia’s Test opener in one of the toughest series the team could wish to play. In a team of only eleven, Warner is the sixth highest run scorer. Even Mitchell Marsh has outscored Warner, and he’s played only four innings versus Warner’s eight. Warner’s average for the series is on a par with that of Carey (23.14), Starc (25.00) and Cummins (23.40), and he is supposed to be one of the team’s best players.

Warner isn’t the only Australia batter to underperform – Smith and Green are guilty, too – but Warner’s lack of runs stretches back several years and yet he keeps getting picked. One wonders if and how the selectors will take responsibility for choosing him and keeping Marcus Harris, who averaged 57.13 for Glamorgan this summer, on the bench.

Anyone But Him

2023 Aus in England incl WTC, , , ,

Oh, for Pete’s sake. After Ricky Ponting, now Greg Chappell has joined the chorus of ‘experts’ backing David Warner despite the absence of any evidence to suggest he is capable of performing as Australia’s Test opener.

“I think with a champion – and I consider David a champion – you give a champion one game too many rather than one game too few,” Chappell is reported to have said.

He’s had one game too many already, Greg. More than one.

It’s not enough to say ‘we think he’ll come good’ (no he won’t).

It’s facile to say ‘he performs well when his back’s against the wall’ (no, he doesn’t).

It’s meaningless to say ‘he’s batting well in the nets’ (Tests aren’t played in the nets).

It’s true there is no like-for-like replacement for Warner. It’s also true that whoever is chosen to open the batting may indeed fail, whether it’s Marsh, Green, Head, Harris or Renshaw. I don’t care. Pick one of them. I don’t care which one. With Warner barely averaging 23 on a very good day if the pitch is flat, and failing to last a single over against Broad when there is any kind of lateral movement, it doesn’t matter who you pick. Any of the candidates has at least as good as chance as Warner and is likely as not to do better. Anyone but Warner.

If anyone is interested, a spot poll in the Fairfax press today produced the following results from readers:

Shuffling a Weak Hand

2020-21 India in Aus, , , , , , , ,

Australia’s batting is very poor, and the cupboard is pretty darn bare.

Marnus Labuschagne is really the only batsman who can hold his head up after two Tests against India, and even he has only managed 129 runs at 32.25 in four innings. Cameron Green looks promising, but it’s too early to tell, and we should give him another few Tests at least before we draw conclusions.

So what does Australia do now?

Burns must go. It was obvious before the series began he was not up to the task, and his half-century in the second innings in Adelaide really should be discounted as it was made under little pressure. Now even the TV commentators seem to agree he won’t play in the Third Test. Dear Justin Langer, loyalty to your players is very sweet, but denial is not a river in Egypt.

So let’s assume Burns is a goner.

Marcus Harris should come in. True, Harris’ first nine Tests were uninspiring (385 runs from 17 innings at 24.06) but his form in the Sheffield Shield this season has been good (355 runs at 118.33 including a double ton and a 71) and he made scores of 35, 25*, 26 and 5 against India A and India in the touring party’s warm-up matches. Not the sort of numbers that make you do backflips, but better than what Burns offers. The selectors wanted Burns to succeed so they could persist with a LH/RH opening combination, but the right-hand batsman isn’t doing you much good if he can’t last past the first or second over, and that’s how poor Burns’ technique has been. Yes, folks, we’re picking openers (i.e. Harris) who stand a chance of getting to 30. That’s how low we’ve sunk.

There is still a suggestion that David Warner will be unavailable for the Third Test. If so, Will Pucovski should be given a chance. At almost 23 years of age, he’s still pretty green with only 23 first-class games under his belt (1,744 runs at 54.50), but he has 6 centuries and 5 half-centuries in that time, including two double tons so far this Sheffield Shield season oh please God let him be successful we so desperately need a decent opening batsman.

So if this all pans out, Wade drops into the middle order and Travis Head should be dropped. Head was given 19 Tests to make an impact, and his average is getting worse, not better.

But if injury strikes Wade, I would suggest the selectors give Alex Carey an opportunity, probably moving Green up to No. 5.

Carey has been pigeon-holed as a white ball specialist, but I see no reason why he can’t play Test cricket. For a start, he has a genuinely good batting technique, and is not merely a bash-&-crash merchant like certain other white ball sloggers who’ve been picked for the Test team in the past (e.g. Aaron Finch, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell). Carey has a first-class batting average of 34.13, but his recent form suggests he is performing above that level. He played only four Sheffield Shield matches in the 2019-20 season due to his white-ball duties for Australia, but made 386 runs at 55.14, with two centuries and a 73 in seven innings. Since then, he made 106 in an ODI against England in September 2020. The selectors obviously suspect he can play red ball cricket, because they gave him a chance for Australia A vs India in a practice match prior to the First Test. He made 32 and 58 in that game.

And it would be nice if Steve Smith found some form. It’s difficult to be too hard on him because he has supported the entire top order for the past five years and one would think one of the other batsmen should step up for a change.

Head is Not the Backbone

2020-21 India in Aus, , , ,

How will Australia’s batting order change for the Second Test in Melbourne?

When David Warner comes back into the team for the Second Test against India in Melbourne, it seems likely Joe Burns will be retained and Will Pucovski will be made to wait his turn. I’m not convinced Burns’ half-century in the second innings of the First Test answers all the questions over his form, but for a coach and selectors searching for any reason to keep him and preserve the left-and-right-hand combination at the top of the order, it will probably suffice.

Which leaves us with Matthew Wade, Cameron Green and Travis Head competing for two places in the middle order.

The chat in the media seems to suggest either Wade or Green will make way, but I’m going to assume that Cameron Green’s great potential means the selectors will retain him and give him some more opportunities.

For my money, the selectors need to consider omitting Travis Head in favour of Wade.

For over two years, Head has failed to become the middle-order bulwark the selectors have sought. Although his batting average after 18 Tests is a decent 40.66, that average is declining. In his first 8 Tests, Head made 663 runs at 51.00. In his most recent 10 Tests, he has made 425 runs at 30.25. That’s quite a deterioration. He made 191 runs at 27.29 across the first four Tests in the most recent Ashes series before being dropped for the Fifth Test. He returned for the series against Pakistan and New Zealand (5 Tests in all) but has made only one significant score: 114 against NZ at the MCG in December 2019 (when Smith also made 85, Paine 79 not out and Labuschagne 63 in a team total of 467).

Only once has Head stood up to save the team from oblivion when it was under pressure, when he made 72 out of a team total of 235 in the Adelaide Test against India in December 2018 (India won that game). A batsman in Head’s position (i.e. No. 5) needs to do what his skipper, Tim Paine, just did in the First Test in Adelaide, when Paine’s 73 not out in a team score of 191 saved the game for Australia and won him the Player of the Match award. Head’s first innings dismissal to Ravi Ashwin, bunting the ball straight back to the bowler, was a terribly tame one.

Head had a decent Shield season in 2019-20, scoring 450 runs at 40.91 in six matches, and started the 2020-21 season well with 455 runs at 65.00 in four games, including scores of 171 not out and 151. This is undoubtedly why he remained in the Test team, but the cricket graveyards are littered with players who failed to step up from Shield to Test level and perform well against the world’s best teams (currently England and India). We’re still waiting for Head to prove he is up to the job.

Matthew Wade, on the other hand, appears to be enjoying a late career revival. Unlike Head, whose recent 10-Test average is well below his career average, Wade’s average is actually RISING. In his last 11 Tests, Wade has averaged 35.00 vs his career average of 30.85. In the recent Ashes series, he made two centuries (albeit accompanied by scores of 1, 1 and 0), ending with 337 runs at 33.70. In 7 innings against Pakistan and New Zealand in 2019-20, he averaged 43.40. He has only played two Shield games so far this season, but has 209 runs in 4 innings at 69.67, with two half-centuries. He also made scores of 58 and 80 in two of the three recent T20 matches against India, and although the difference in format may make such scores irrelevant when considering his Test potential, it could be evidence of a confidence that Head just doesn’t seem to exhibit.

Wade will turn 33 on Boxing Day, and Head will turn 27 three days later. Perhaps it is the knowledge that Wade doesn’t have too many years left that is allowing him to play with more confidence and fewer inhibitions than Head.

Head has been given plenty of chances. There is more than enough justification for omitting him in favour of Wade.