Australian head coach Justin Langer said he still doesn't know who his six best batsmen are, and is hoping Australia A tour of India can give him some answers.
It has been all downhill for Australia since the ball-tampering fiasco in South Africa in March. Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned for their involvement in the scandal and that has left a massive hole in the Australian batting order. Australia will next face Pakistan in a two-Test series in the United Arab Emirates in October but the unit looks far from settled.
“It’s unprecedented. We’re going to wait until probably a week before the UAE tour to select the team, so that would be telling us ‘no’,” Langer told the Weekend Australian. “No. The answer is straight up ‘no’. Do we know the best six batsmen in Australia? The answer is ‘no’.”
“You take Smith who has got 79 hundreds, you take Warner who has got 88 hundreds — I am talking about all A-grade cricket — you take those out. You take (out) Cameron Bancroft who you could say had just started to find his feet, he was a bit of the heartbeat of the team. You take your two most successful batsmen … there is certainly some questions.
Langer will have his eyes set on the 'A' side who are in Vijayawada for the quadrangular series, also involving India A, India B and South Africa A, and two four-day games. "It's two-fold with India and Australia A," said Langer. "One, we want to see who performs under pressure and two, we want to start to get some continuity in our side where possible, but we also need to reward performance, not just talent."
It's been four months for Langer in the job and the start to his tenure hasn't been great. Australia lost all the six limited-overs game in England before finishing second to Pakistan in the tri-series in Zimbabwe. However, Langer isn't disheartened. “It just makes me more hungry for the job.”
The next 12 months is not going to be easy for Langer and his team. Once Australia are done with their tour of the UAE, they will be involved in a tough limited-overs series at home against South Africa. Then they are scheduled to host India and Sri Lanka. According to ICC's Future Tours Programme, Australia will also play away One-Day International series against India and Pakistan. By then both Smith and Warner will be cleared and available for Australia's World Cup defence in England in 2019.
There are still plenty of questions looming over Langer. The Test batting line-up will have to be formed, and the focus will be on the likes of Matthew Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Kurtis Patterson and Mitchell Marsh who are in India. Players like Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns now have been there for sometime. Aaron Finch, who is currently making waves in England, is also making right moves to press his case forward.
It comes as no surprise that Langer is having sleepless nights. “It’s the first time in my adult life I’ve woken up in the middle of the night,” he said. “I did it a few times in England. I’ve done it a few times since I’ve been home. It’s bizarre but hopefully as I start getting my feet under the table and I start knowing who I trust around my new team of people at Cricket Australia, hopefully I start sleeping better.
“Certainly I’m gaining greater clarity in the foundations of what we are trying to achieve in the team for the next few years. I’m getting clarity about leadership. My huge focus is organic leadership and it can’t just be about the title C or VC, it’s got to be about developing these young blokes.
“If I leave this role and there’s probably six or seven guys who you could make captain tomorrow then I reckon I’ve done a pretty good job because if we do that … then not only will we be playing good cricket and I reckon the Australian public will be proud of us again, we’ll have earned respect and there will be plenty of heroes out there for Australian kids and that’s the way it’s always been in Australian cricket.’’
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