SHAKY WADE FACING AXE
EVEN Australia wins the Border Gavaskar Trophy today, selectors have some deep thinking to do about their top order for South Africa.
Matthew Wade has exposed himself for scrutiny with a patchy series, not what Australia needed after already dropping Travis Head.
Joe Burns has played his last Test for the foreseeable future, and Marcus Harris could be in a similar boat after getting out between 20 and 50 for the sixth time in a career where he is averaging 23.77 as a Test opener.
Former Test greats Shane Warne and Allan Border are big fans of Tasmanian middleorder batsman Ben McDermott, who made an impressive hundred for Australia A against the Indians on the eve of this series.
Unheralded West Australian opener Sam Whiteman made two centuries to start the Sheffield Shield summer and could present as a back-up option to David Warner and Will Pucovski – presuming both are fit to tour South Africa.
But selectors have big decisions to make on Wade and Head in particular for a South African series which could have a massive bearing on whether Australia qualifies for if the World Test Championship final at Lord’s in June.
Wade was unlucky to be dismissed on Monday, strangled down the leg side, but as
Damien Fleming pointed out on SEN, the plucky left-hander hasn’t been cashing in on a series of starts. And when that happens, inevitably, the cricketing Gods are going to give you that dose of bad luck.
However, Wade should be cut some slack for his willingness to bat out of position at the top of the order for the first two Tests, where he didn’t let anyone down with a serviceable job. It shows Wade’s versatility for an overseas tour, where he can be pitched in at the top, the middle, or as a back-up wicketkeeper.
Head won’t get any firstclass cricket before the first Test against the Proteas, but he is more of an investment in the future than what Wade is.
McDermott has plenty of fans, but his first-class average is 34 with only two centuries – and at this point he would be another development player to throw into the mix with Cameron Green and Pucovski.
Whiteman has an average of 35 but is much improved in recent seasons.
The bottom line is Australia’s top six is not as close to being the finished article as selectors might have hoped at the start of the summer.
It’s still a work in progress, and the main reason why this series has become such hard work for Australia.