Thought of the Day: Champions Trophy (& participants) just a smokescreen

Australia's current One-Day team was knocked out of the latest (last) instalment of the Champions Trophy last night, another competition that they were the incumbent title-holders of that they now participate in as attendees, rather than as competitors.

For the second series in a row the interest in the Australian team was not around performance so much as cohesion, with Dave Warner being suspended for attempting to punch an opponent while in a bar at 2am, Michael Clarke not playing due to his perennially dodgy back and Shane Watson continued to dig a hole for his career to descend into, but off-field distraction.

Watto on his career trajectory (note: may not be Watto)

The issues of the 'culture' within the Australian team have been written about at length elsewhere, while Watson has provoked ire of almost everyone, including myself for his continued selfishness and sense of entitlement - all in the face of poor performance.

If he really isn't committed to the team winning, Watson needs to move on and let someone else in. His performances in the last 2-3 years certainly don't deserve selection & his selfishness is setting a poor example for younger players.

In news relating to actual performance from the Champions Trophy, there wasn't much for Australian fans to be happy about with only George Bailey, Clint McKay and Adam Voges having a decent series, and none of them are going to be considered for a Test any-time soon (Bailey has a poor first-class record, McKay didn't do well in his only Test & there are bowlers galore at the moment, and Voges has only just returned to the ODI team).

Champions Trophy Test squad members Phillip Hughes, Matthew Wade, James Faulkener all had fairly-poor to outright-lousy tournaments while enigmatic One-Day specialists Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Marsh all attended the tournament and continued to cement their standing as talented players who just don't seem to be able to concentrate for more than (T)20 overs. 

Remembering to hold onto the bat isn't that easy.
(photo courtesy of theage.com.au)

To be fair, I concentrated as much on the Champions Trophy as Mitchell Marsh does to sobriety, so can't comment with any insight on the performances of "3 Dads" (Nathan Coulter-Nile) or Mitchel Starc.

The main reason for my lack of concentration is that all my Cricket watching has been focussed on the Country Championship and the Australian-A team for the last fortnight, all with an eye to the impending Ashes series.

There are a number of Australian Test players (and potential Test players) all going around in the County Championship at the moment, some of whom are getting runs, others are taking wickets.  While not all of the Test Squad players in the County Championship are amongst the statistical leaders, they are all getting valuable 'time in the middle' and used to English conditions.

Chief amongst these in the County Championship are Ed Cowan and Chris Rogers, who were probably fighting for an opening berth with Warner, though it looks like they may well be now opening together as Warner is suspended and won't be getting any (appropriate) match practice between now and the first test.

Cowan has been averaging 38 for Notts, which is almost totally consistent with his career first-class average, and is yet to bring up a century (which is almost consistent with his Test average).  While it is doubtful that Cowan will give James Anderson nightmares, he is likely to stick around for 20-odd overs to give the dubious middle-order a platform.  Further, he really isn't likely to put himself before the team or try to punch anyone in a nightclub at 2am.

Rogers is currently averaging 65 for Middlesex, including a high score of 214 while batting on a road.  Still, he has scored over 19,000 first-class runs, is experienced and (I'm sure) would love to add to his one test cap.  Again, very unlikely to be getting punchy at 2am.

This is what Rogers does at 2am.  He waits.

The Australian 'A' team has played two matches in the last fortnight against the atomic-cricketing teams of Scotland and Ireland (I mean 'atomic' in regards to size, rather than power), both practice games that were designed to ensure the players got plenty of time in the middle, while keeping the contest interesting.  Indeed, Day 2 of the Ireland match saw 3 declarations, hardly standard match strategy, but everyone got a go.

The gap in standards between the Irish, Scottish and English teams makes it hard to ascertain what the performances of the Australian A team mean, though some overall observations can be made, including:

• James Pattinson seems to have taken to the conditions around the British Sea (9 wickets from ~40 overs at 15);
• Nathan Lyon should hold his spot for the first Test at least (8 wickets from 45 overs at 19);
• Nic Maddinson may be one for the future (blasted 133 not out off not many in the second innings of the Irish game); and (as much as it hurts to say)
• Steve Smith is the logical pick for number 6 for the first test (averaging 57, steadied the Innings in Ireland after an early wobble, had a good series in India and deserves a go).

With these all of these results in mind, the likely XI for the First Test could be:

1. Rogers
2. Cowan
3. Hughes
4. Watson
5. Clarke (c)
6. Smith
7. Haddin (wk)
8. Harris
9. Siddle
10. Pattinson
11. Lyon

One of the obvious things this list says to me is that there is plenty of depth in the bowling, with Bird and Starc to come in for the quicks and Agar and Ahmed for Lyon, though not much at all for the batsmen.  It is highly likely that Clarke won't be able to play all of the games of this series, so another batsmen must be found. 

Potential Australian batsmen, seen here at the MCG

 Unfortunately the two most likely candidates (Usman Khawaja and Warner) have been reared in the Watson school of self-interest, so will need to have their heads-banged if Clarkes back rub doesn't work.

There are a few more 'A' games to go, which should be the ideal time to allow the likes of Hughes, Wade and Watson to spend some time in the middle and score some runs ahead of the real event.