|
Twenty20's potential to be toxic for Australia's Test match plans has
been underlined by the decision to "quarantine" the Boxing Day Test
squad from the BBL before the team convenes in Melbourne. Of the 13 only
Peter Siddle is not presently signed up to a BBL team, but none of the
other 12 will take part in any of the matches scheduled between now and
the start of preparation for the second Test.
Usman Khawaja will have a particularly focused lead-in to the Test, as
he steels himself for the possible task of replacing Michael Clarke in
Australia's batting line-up. Clarke's hamstring strain will be given
every chance to heal in time for the MCG match, but in the meantime
Khawaja has been seconded to Cricket Australia's Centre of Excellence in
Brisbane for intensive training sessions with the acting batting coach
Stuart Law.
Australia's team performance regime has been stretched by the task of
finding an adequate balance between the demands of T20 and Tests,
especially during the period of the home summer when the national team
plays the five-day game without any first-class cricket to buttress the
reserves.
Pat Howard, the team performance manager, has said that it will likely
take at least another two years before teams the world over have found
ways to deal effectively with the effects of jumping from format to
format, and the coach Mickey Arthur said that there was no alternative
to holding the squad out of the BBL this week, noting the injuries to
the likes of Ben Hilfenhaus, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood that have
already arisen this summer from the T20 riddle.
"That's always going to be a conundrum for us, who do we play, who don't
we play," Arthur said. "We feel that the Test match is massively
important on Boxing Day, we want to quarantine the 13 players. We're
sitting with enough injuries as it is. We want Usman to go back and work
really hard on his red ball game. I want him to go and do some work on
just tightening his game up again. He's been practising with a white
ball, and we want to give him every opportunity to make it a success if
he gets picked.
"Johnson didn't play for Brisbane Heat [on Tuesday night], and that was
really an issue between Mitchell and his franchise. Not a bad issue,
there was just dialogue between them, Mitchell's wife has just had a
baby, so there was dialogue there. We just think it's best now that we
quarantine those 13 players, because once we start letting one off then
there's always the issue of why's he playing, why's he not playing. It's
in the best interests of the 13 to get ready for Boxing Day."
Khawaja's looming return is a significant vindication for the
left-hander, having changed states and worked assiduously at his batting
since he was dropped from the Test team for the Boxing Day Test last
year. The national selectors have sought improvement in the areas of
fielding, running between the wickets and general team ethic, and Arthur
said the panel was now convinced that Khawaja had gone a long way to
meeting those marks.
"I don't think we would have picked him if he hadn't shown that
continued improvement that we wanted from him. I think Ussie's done
well," Arthur said. "It's no coincidence that you sit with Phil Hughes
and Usman Khawaja at Nos. 1 and 2 in the amount of Shield runs. They
thoroughly deserve their opportunity to come back.
"It was just a year ago right here that both of them lost their places.
So what they've done in a year to get back has been immense, and that's a
credit to both of them. So to welcome Ussie back into the fold is going
to be quite exciting."
Should Clarke not be fit, an enormous amount of pressure will be placed
on Australia's recast top four to improve on a largely promising display
in Hobart, when only Shane Watson of the quartet failed to pass 50.
David Warner reached that tally in both innings of a Test for the first
time, while Phillip Hughes looked the part at No. 3.
"I thought our top six this game contributed immensely to the win,"
Arthur said. "First-innings runs are always massive. We got
first-innings runs, four out of six fifties from our Nos. 1, 2 and 3
which for me was really big. That was one area we wanted to be very
consistent in, and then as far as Watto goes, he's got a massive amount
of quality, so pretty sure that he's going to do the job for us at No.
4. So really happy with how our top six stacked up."
Another man likely to benefit from the "quarantine" is the left-armer
Mitchell Starc, who showed evidence of his progress as a bowler by
scything through Sri Lanka's tail on the final afternoon at Bellerive
Oval after an exhausted Peter Siddle had been withdrawn. Arthur said
Starc's gradually improving consistency was a source of some
satisfaction ahead of the tours of India and England.
"It's just experience, just exposing him to situations like he was in
Hobart," Arthur said. "The more he's exposed to those conditions, the
better he's going to become. There's a massive amount of talent, and I
think he's just going to get better and better."
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
Feeds: Daniel Brettig
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
No comments:
Post a Comment