Melbourne [Australia]Jan 28 (ANI): National selector Trevor Hohns has indicated that Australia may be following their speed battery rotation policy during the South Africa tour, while admitting it should have done so in the recently concluded test series against India.
Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc played all four Tests against India along with weirdo Nathan Lyon. While Cummins and Hazlewood starred with the ball, Starc and Lyon had to work hard for the wickets.
Starc picked eight wickets in the first two Tests against India but failed to interfere with the visitors’ batsmen in the final two games in which Australia eventually lost at The Gabba to give the visitors the series 2-1.
Hohns thinks that the Australian team management needs to be more vigilant in the future, saying that all bowlers who played against India have recovered and are fit for the South Africa tour.
“In retrospect, [we] possibly could have been done. Before we finalize a team, we turn to medical staff and sometimes even to our players to find out how they are doing, “ESPNcricinfo quoted Hohns when asked about the rotation.
“Sure, the games were pretty close and close together, maybe we need to look into it a little more in the future. In this case, however, all the bowlers had recovered enough that the medics gave them their thumbs up,” he added.
Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc were named in the Australian squad for the South Africa series on Wednesday. Hohns said the tempo attack chosen had helped Australia on multiple occasions, so all the selectors had to do was make sure the bowlers recovered adequately after losing to India.
“We thought these three fast bowlers, who had performed very well over a long period of time, were the best for the job. After checking that they had recovered sufficiently, we thought it was the best attack.” said Hohns.
Meanwhile, Matthew Wade was expelled from Australia’s test team for the South Africa tour, while Tim Paine received strong support to continue as captain.
Wade will be touring New Zealand for the T20I series instead, as Australia will lock the horns with both the Kiwis and South Africa in February and March. The Australian T20I roster is led by Aaron Finch and coached by Andrew McDonald.
Cricket Australia (CA) has confirmed that the Australian men’s T20I squad tour to New Zealand will not change regardless of the outcome of the discussions between Cricket South Africa and CA about the Australian men’s test tour of South Africa. (ANI)
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