Aussie skipper throws down challenge to players
Australian captain Steve Smith is looking for new players to “jump out of the pack” during the domestic one-day series after a 4-1 flogging by India put massive question marks over several members of his struggling national team.
Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who was dropped midway through the series, and all-rounder James Faulkner look two players most under the pump as does Hilton Cartwright.
Wade had a chance to prove his worth to the side in the final clash in Nagpur, given eight overs to add to his 14 runs in his three previous innings. But instead he laboured to 20 off 18 balls before falling in the second last over.
It was the keeper’s highest score in his past seven ODI innings but still left the Aussies with just 242 runs on the board.
The Indians, thanks to an imperious 125 from opener Rohit Sharma, reeled the meek target in with just three wickets down, and nearly seven overs to spare, to retake the No.1 one-day ranking from South Africa.
Openers David Warner (249 runs at 49) and Aaron Finch (250 runs at 83) were the only batsmen to pull their weight with none of Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb or even skipper Smith making any sort of impact in the five games.
Through five completed games of the domestic one-day series, which began last week, only former Aussie batsman Shaun Marsh has stood out, scoring 132 not out in his opening game, before backing that up with 88 against Victoria on Sunday.
But while Australia will stay in India for three T20 internationals, its next one-day game is not until January, giving all summer for would-be contenders to force their way into the team.
“There’s possibly a few guys. Some guys are back playing in the domestic one-day competition, some guys who are going to put pressure on the guys that are here,” Smith said.
“Our results haven’t been good enough.
“We want guys to perform consistently.
“We’ll have a good look at the competition back home, hopefully a few guys jump out of the pack and get some really big runs and bowl really well as well.”