Is the Gloss Fading?
With the Australian team licking their wounds after a comprehensive victory by India in the T20 International portion of the multi-format series, is the gloss fading from this once impenetrable fortress?
It could have been worse for the home team. The victory in Canberra was against the run of play, so 2-1 to India could easily have been 3-0. As we look to analyse the result, can we find some answers or is this a trend for the future?
The Healy Factor
Take an all-time great away from any team and this must have an impact. Alyssa Healy has been a leading figure on the world stage over a career that has spanned 15 years, with a particular dominance over the last seven.
The problem with that argument is that Healy has been absent for much of the time over the last couple of years through injury, especially in the white ball formats. During that time the ship has continued to sail effortlessly under the stewardship of vice-captain Tahlia McGrath. It has been business as usual – quite remarkable given that Healy is both wicket keeper and opening batter. The cracks should have been forming long ago but haven’t.
The Leadership Question
There has been widely felt acknowledgement that Sophie Molineux was destined to be Australia’s next leader, given the Victorian’s talent for her tactical nous for WBBL franchise, the Melbourne Renegades. The only question mark surrounding her selection was her difficult run with injuries over the last few seasons. Could she manage to stay on the park for a sustained period?
Other options for the selectors were vice-captain Tahlia McGrath – keeping a steady hand on the wheel – or the undoubted talent of allrounder Ash Gardner.
The case for Gardner is pretty clear: she is guaranteed to have a place in Australia’s team in any format. A standout player for the team and growing in maturity over the years, the only question being whether that makes her an ideal captain. From a symbolic point of view the optics would have been a big win: Australia’s first indigenous captain. Hard to beat that.
McGrath on the other hand is a tricky equation. The South Australian allrounder has not enjoyed her best form for quite some time and many would argue that she does not warrant a place in the team on that basis alone. It’s not hard to argue when you look at numbers alone. And yet, during Healy’s absence McGrath has skippered Australia to six ODI wins from six games and eight T20 Internationals from nine games. That’s an impressive record, just one loss from fifteen games as captain. That said, you need to be able to hold your place in the team.
All things being equal, the Australian selectors probably made the right choice.
Selection and Batting Positions – McGrath 2.0?
Returning to McGrath, part of Tahlia’s problem has been the success of the team. She hasn’t been needed. The few times she has been called in to bat has been at the back end of the innings with few overs to play. McGrath is a natural batter at number four. To come in at seven or eight and play a limited number of deliveries has meant she’s been on a hiding to nothing. And yet the team kept winning…
Are we seeing the same thing for Belinda Clark Medalist, Annabel Sutherland? Like McGrath, Sutherland is a natural in the top order. She needs time to get going. Batting at seven or eight in this series has meant she’s been in the same difficult position McGrath has faced. Both of these players are from the same template as Ellyse Perry. Would you bat Perry at Eight?
Sutherland has batted below Georgie Wareham in the line-up in all three games. “Wolfie” is a known swashbuckling pirate, capable of causing havoc to opposition attacks in the final few overs and there are times when it is warranted to push such a player up the order. That makes sense, but for it to become the default means that a player of Sutherland’s undoubted class looks like she will suffer the same fate as Tahlia McGrath. Class is substituted for expediency.
To the top of the order. Beth Mooney has proven time and again to be one of the premier opening batters in world cricket. He cricket brain is a computer, able to adjust in any situation – Australia will miss her when she retires more than they will miss Healy, such is the quality of this cyborg type batter. Partnering her, the right handed Georgia Voll makes the opening combo a good option, but it falls away from there.
The number three spot is troublesome. Australia might want to look at having two options, a right hander or left hander, depending on which of Mooney or Voll is dismissed first. At present that spot is occupied by the prodigiously talented Phoebe Litchfield, but unfortunately shot selection keeps bringing this player undone. Not every delivery needs to be a reverse sweep or a lap. That sort of maturity will come with time, but right now it is not evident. The Australians could mitigate that situation by having a second option at three – say Perry or Sutherland – if Voll goes first. It would mean the pivotal number three batter is not always at risk of a mistimed reverse sweep.
At present the batting line-up looks more like an all you can eat buffet than a complete meal. Bit of this, bit of that – nothing of substance. It is a real area of concern for the Aussies. Will they address it?
Confusing Bowling Selections
Were it not for the consistency of Ash Gardner and Kim Garth, Australia would be in an even worse position. Playing the best available bowlers should be a no-brainer. Darcie Brown can be a bit hit or miss but her raw pace is an x factor and you take what you get with such a player.
Is Megan Schutt’s career over? It would seem so. The second highest wicket taker in T20 Internationals was not considered for a single game in this series. Why is she even in the squad? It seems shabby treatment of a player who has proven time and again to be one of the best in the world.
Georgie Wareham does provide some fireworks with the bat but is not even in the top two leg spinners in the country, well behind Alana King and Amanda-Jade Wellington. The numbers back this up, no matter the format. Is she being selected as a batter who bowls occasional leg spin? It is strange, to say the least, that she continues to be selected when the other two leggies are proven wicket takers and both are capable with the bat. Do you pick your best leg spinner, or do you pick a batter who is less than the best in the country?
And we return to the captain. There’s no question of Sophie Molnieux’s acumen as as tactician. But as with McGrath, she needs to hold her place in the team as a player. Is she the best left-arm spin option for Australia? Jess Jonnasen is an all-time great, dumped somewhat unfairly to make way for the new skipper. Ok, there was probably a need for generational change as much as that may hurt, but that means generation next must be at least as good, if not better, than what stood before. Sophie is yet to make that case on the international stage and means, for now, Australia is not playing their best option with left-arm spin.
Not the best leg spinner, not the best left-arm spinner and a champion wicket taker not selected. Yes, there are holes in this bowling attack wide enough to drive a truck through.
What Will Happen
Healy returns to the fold with her swansong in both ODIs and Test cricket. Hopefully Australia will send her out in victory. She deserves nothing less. The selectors and leadership group will congratulate themselves on a job well done.
Next stop, West Indies for a multi-format series. Australia will probably win this in a canter. That will help paper over the cracks. Then what? Unless there are some radical changes, this team will draw inspiration from their male counterparts and fail to make the semis of the T20 World Cup in June.
