As the playground bell sounded on Australian cricket’s version of “next goal wins”, it was the quintet of Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Wade and Chadd Sayers who emerged victors.
Though as the choice of personnel shows, this was not the zero-sum Shield showdown many had feted. Of the five, only two (Renshaw and Handscomb) can lay legitimate claim to having delivered in the Great Audition of 2016. The remaining three (Maddinson, Wade and Sayers), it can be deduced, must have been reasonably close to selection already given their unremarkable performances this round.
As the five new additions to a squad of 12, the change is sweeping and its scale almost unprecedented. But having never experienced such a sudden dismantling of home hegemony, the national appetite for blood was so ravenous that the level of change offered felt about right. This is an upheaval not only rich in quantity, but variety too. Almost every type of selection is accounted for: Renshaw is the bolter, Handscomb the anointed, Maddinson is potential, Sayers the horse for the course, and Wade was simply recalled.
It is the latter whose selection has evoked the most consternation. Clamour for Wade’s inclusion seemingly began from nowhere, some weeks ago. It happened in an unnervingly familiar way – a small chorus of Australia’s retired cricketing elite commenced a call for more “grit” and “mongrel” in the Australian unit – and weeks later, here he is. Notwithstanding his comparable first-class batting record with vanquished predecessor, Nevill, Wade’s glovemanship remains at the forefront of national concern.
A Mitchell Johnson-esque recall – where Johnson returned a remodelled man technically and mentally – this isn’t. With 209 runs at 23.22 in his last 10 first-class innings, it’s then difficult to separate Wade’s inclusion from Steve Smith’s rallying cry for “energy” following Australia’s relatively recent Sri Lankan capitulation. He may bring that great intangible of “mongrel”, but will Wade write cheques with his mouth that his keeping can’t cash? Faf du Plessis, Nevill, and the rest of Australia will watch on.
However, as with Joe Mennie before him, Wade’s inclusion is primarily informed by Australia’s significant and wholesale problem with the blade. Previously the nation may have turned to experienced, but damaged, alternatives. Names like George Bailey, Cameron White and Alex Doolan adorned team sheets and featured in “my best XI” conversations this past week, and not without reason. Bailey has averaged 70 in his last 10 innings, while White has returned to form and Doolan made 202 before retiring hurt. But the selectors instead opted to usher in a new cohort of bladesmen.
There is something instructive in this. Amidst the panic and confusion within Australian cricket broadly, the selections of Renshaw, Maddinson and Handscomb definitively signal the commencement of a batting rebuild. At 20, 24 and 25 respectively, these are players who may form the spine of an Australian batting group for the better part of a decade, if they’re persevered with.
Of the upstarts with viable prospects of selection, it is New South Welshman Kurtis Patterson who finds himself most unlucky. The upright, correct left-hander compiled an elegant half century on a wearing SCG wicket (something his colleagues couldn’t do), and must surely find himself on the cusp of selection in the near future.
Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising selection of the three was that of Maddinson. Averaging 30 from his last 10 innings, the man Nathan Hauritz described on ABC Grandstand as “a bit different” couldn’t rouse himself to Handscomb or Renshaw-esque heights this round. His selection, particularly ahead of the better-performed Patterson, reveals a player with a favourable reputation among selectors though.
This isn’t new. Back in 2011, the late Peter Roebuck wrote of Maddinson: “Interstaters are entitled to be aggrieved to hear his name mentioned before the deed has been done. But it will be done.” Nineteen at the time, Maddinson has always seemed to flit between that characterisation of “overhyped NSW golden boy” or inevitable Test mainstay. Circumstances have helped catapult him into the frame ahead of schedule, much like the remainder of the new batting group.
Set to debut at a younger age than Ricky Ponting, Renshaw’s selection is a win for cricket hipsters nationwide. He may have only played 11 first class fixtures but he too has been touted; much in the same way that local band you saw before they were big were touted. On face value he should be utterly unfamiliar to the Australian public, but the England-born 20–year-old is a big, left-handed opening batsman from Queensland. Moreover, with scores this round of 108 off 202 balls and 50 off 51 balls, Renshaw appears able to both defend and dominate, much like his 90s likeness did. Nauseating and altogether unfair comparisons with Matthew Hayden will undoubtedly abound, but in times of crisis, laying back and thinking of the 1990s is a nationally certified coping mechanism.
Not unfamiliar with throwbacks, Sayers’ inclusion pits him head-to-head once more with the returning Jackson Bird for the third seamers position. Not dissimilar in pace, it may be that Sayers’ exemplary record at his home Adelaide Oval makes him the fourth to debut for the side this Thursday. If this were the case Bird, like Nevill, would be exceedingly unfortunate to again miss out.
But whereas an air of experimentation accompanies Australia’s other selections, there is something reassuring about that of Handscomb. No mere product of often-parochial Victorian advocacy, the St Kilda player’s growing reputation as Australia’s next batting mainstay exists because he has the youth and the runs to prove it. Averaging 76.67 from his last 10 first-class innings, it is instructive that his most significant knock – 215 against New South Wales – was staged this week and in these circumstances. For a nation with a worryingly bare cupboard of batting stocks, Handscomb is an exception. His path into the Australian side is the way you’re meant to do it. By any measure, he deserves his place.
So for now, the changes have satiated the nation’s desire for blood – but it cannot say for how long. Because a curiosity lies beneath Australia’s new faces: do they represent the ushering in of a new era, or are they merely another next short-term bet? Whatever the case, as Adelaide nears, hopes will rise. As with Usman Khawaja’s debut in Sydney’s dead rubber Ashes Test of 2010-11, Australia will once again look for signs of the future before scintillating 50s.
