Tag Archives: philip hughes

New Faces for the Edgbaston Test

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It is funny how cricket turns up the unexpected. Before the Ashes started, you would have been very comfortable laying your money on England worrying about its lineup based on form and Australia doing so on injury. How the tables have turned as England reach the mid-point leading 1-0 and Australia trying to come up with the right answer.

It is definite that Pietersen will be out because of his Achilles injury and perhaps Flintoff too. Bell will be the first replacement and Harmison may get the other remaining spot. That leaves the English batting a little weakened. As for bowling, both Flintoff and Harmison have never been consistent, so it is difficult to say who would be the better bowler. In hindsight, Flintoff won the bowling honors at Lord’s, but it was never a given before the Test.

Australia have to contend with Johnson’s poor showing in the first two Tests. Unable to make a return to form in the tour match against Northamptonshire, he is the most likely one to be dropped. Hughes is the other possible candidate to sit on the benches, even though he did make 68 in the last innings of the tour match. Johnson is likely to be replaced by Clark or Lee, while Hughes by Shane Watson.

The Johnson replacement would plug an open wound in the Australian side. Although Johnson has taken 8 wickets in the first two Tests, he has leaked a lot of runs creating pressure on the rest of the team. The main downside is that Australia will miss his aggressive batting.

Shane Watson shone in the tour match and is hot favorite for replacing Hughes. His presence in the side also provides another bowling option for the Australians. But I am not sure if Australia should go this route. Hughes should be given some more rope given the strong Australian batting order, which, to be fair, failed only once in this series so far.

The New Australian Team

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Australia have made a confident start to their effort to regain the No.1 Test ranking from South Africa by first posting an above-average Wanderers score of 466 and then reducing the South Africans to 85 for 3. The Test could still go the other way, but there is no disputing Australia’s dominance at this moment. But what may not be so evident from the scorecard is that the Australians are a new-look team with 3 players making their debut and two others with experience of 5 Tests or less.

Take a look at the following chart of the last 3 Tests (including the current one) played by Australia. I have ignored the first Test of the previous series against South Africa as the team was essentially unchanged.

                                  Total Tests   Avg. Tests/Player
2nd Test vs. SA (in Australia)           464               42.18
3rd Test vs. SA (in Australia)           373               33.91 (2 debutants)
1st Test vs. SA (in SA)                  276               25.09 (3 debutants)

In comparison, the South African team has a total experience of 630 Tests in the current Test, almost twice the experience, and only Duminy has played less than 15 Tests. Of course, that would not count for much, if the new Australian players are very talented. Let us take a look at the five players who may either be the future of Australian cricket or just be having their 15 minutes of fame.

Marcus North: With a century on debut, the 18th Australian to do so, North’s stock is pretty high. He has played for various teams, including Australia A. North has a good record in first-class matches with almost 9000 runs and 22 centuries.

Philip Hughes: Heaven for some, hell for others. Hughes made a golden duck in his first Test innings, but this 20-year old is extremely talented, being the youngest man to score a Pura Cup final century.

Benjamin Hilfenhaus: Another golden duck on debut, he denied Johnson his maiden century. He must have been relieved when he scalped Amla off his 2nd ball in Test cricket. He has been around in international ODIs and T20′s since 2007.

Andrew McDonald: An all-rounder who made his debut in Australia’s previous Test, he has to improve upon his duck and so-far wicketless performance in this Test. His first Test was not great either. Most likely to dropped at this moment in time.

Peter Siddle: Compared to the rest, he is a veteran. Took 13 wickets in the previous series against SA and helped win the Sydney Test. Young, hasn’t played much in first-class cricket, but has shown enough to be playing Tests.