Finger of blame points to players
AUSTRALIA’S cricket selectors have put the blame for the Border-Gavaskar series loss at the foot of the players after revealing there was not a solitary selection they regretted.
The fact selectors have reduced the team’s batting depth for the March tour of South Africa rather than increase it shows there are no other standout options in Australian cricket that could improve on the squad that suffered such a chastening series loss to India.
Usman Khawaja’s international career appears over after was omitted among 37 players picked for concurrent series of Tests in South Africa and T20s in New Zealand.
Matthew Wade’s Test cricket renaissance is also over after the plucky Tasmanian was the sole player dropped from the Indian series.
With back-up wicketkeeper Alex Carey and Queensland seamer Mark Steketee picked in Wade’s place instead of a specialist batsman, Australian selectors have taken a punt that Travis Head, pictured, is good enough to win back his place in the middle-order and Will Pucovski’s shoulder is ready for the rigours of a threeTest series in South Africa.
National selector Trevor Hohns conceded his panel would have to be more mindful of rotating fast bowlers in South Africa and future series, but said the series was there to be won by the players in Sydney and Brisbane.
Hohns said he and fellow selectors Justin Langer and George Bailey had reviewed their decisions and were comfortable the right strings had been pulled – hence the reason why a largely unchanged unit will take on South Africa.
“We’ve reviewed it among ourselves and I’m sure each one of us individually would have reflected on the performance A, of the team and B, whether there was anything we could have done any differently,” Hohns said. “And if I’m serious, I can’t think of anything else we probably could have done during that series, player-wise.
“We had opportunities to win games, in particular in Sydney, and we didn’t take those opportunities.”
Pucovski has responded well to an injection he’s taken to his shoulder in recent days and medical staff are confident he can get through South Africa without surgery.
However, selectors appear torn on whether to return him to open the batting – where he performed well in his only Test – or slot him in at No.5 and allow Marcus Harris to stay up the top with David Warner.
If Pucovski opens, then Head appears likely to slot back into the middle-order spot he relinquished midway through the Indian series, although Moises Henriques is now a serious contender to play a Test in South Africa as a specialist batsman.
Hohns refused to rule out the prospect Carey could be considered as a specialist batsman, but it’s clear his presence in the squad is more of a pointer to him being Tim Paine’s long-term successor as keeper.
“Alex Carey has been on our radar for some time,” Hohns said.
“He’s played limited overs cricket for us and we thought that was the ideal pathway for him to get to Test match level. Alex over the last 12 to 18 months has gotten better and better as a player.”