Cameron Green at seven, Mitch Marsh at eight and Alex Carey at nine.
They are names commonly seen higher in any batting line-up, but Chris Rogers believes “something radical” in selection will be necessary throughout 2022 should Australia wish to build on their momentum from a successful Ashes campaign.
“You can look at it with some fresh eyes, a bit of a fresh outlook really, the side that maybe you finished with in the Ashes isn’t necessarily the side you’ll pick in those conditions,” former Australian opener turned Victorian coach Rogers told foxsports.com.au.
After a quiet Test calendar since the advent of Covid-19, which has meant Australia has not played a Test away from home in two years, Pat Cummins’ men will tour the sub-continent on three separate occasions this year.
Watch every KFC BBL Finals game Live & On-Demand on Kayo or catch up for FREE with minis on Kayo Freebies. Join Kayo Now >
While it is thought Pakistan will provide assistance to the quicks, the expectation is their tours of Sri Lanka and India will be dominated by spin bowling.
Of the team that finished the Ashes in Hobart, only Steve Smith has scored a century in India.
The only other player to reach three figures in the country is Glenn Maxwell, who played the last of his seven Tests in their seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in 2017. Earlier that year, Maxwell scored 104 in their draw against India – one of only two matches Australia have not lost in India since 2004.
Australia has regularly played two spinners on Indian and Sri Lankan soil – countries they have won just two Tests in since their historic series victories in 2004 under Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist – but the emergence of all-rounder Cameron Green could allow the tourists to be creative with their XI.
Green, 22, took 13 wickets at 15.76 to finish with the sixth most wickets throughout the five match Test series.
Yet the talented quick’s strike-rate of 37.2 was only bettered by Pat Cummins (36.1) and Scott Boland (27).
His dynamic bowling, where he is capable of hitting the mid 140s, could be used instead of playing a specialist quick, thereby strengthening the batting.
What’s more, Rogers believes Australia could even use Mitch Marsh, who averages 38.64 with the ball and took a five-wicket haul in his last Test against England in 2019, in tandem with Green and Cummins in their attack so to bat as deep in the order as possible.
“It’s going to be very different conditions and whether you even need three quicks (is questionable),” Rogers said.
“You could potentially even go, and it may not be in Pakistan, but you could go Cummins, Green and even Mitch Marsh, and you could think of doing something radical.”
Rogers, who averaged 42.87 in Test cricket and hit five centuries, never played a Test in India.
But the former left-handed opener played two Tests against Pakistan in the UAE but failed to register a half-century.
A self-critical Rogers said that he would not have picked himself to open the batting if he was to select a team and believes having an attacking mindset at the top of the order is critical to succeed in the spin-friendly conditions.
Watch the CommBank Women’s Ashes Series on Kayo. Every Test, T20 & ODI Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
For that reason, Rogers believes Maxwell, who exploded back into the hearts and minds of Australians earlier this week by cracking the highest ever score in Big Bash history, could play a role in different positions throughout the team, including at the top of the order – the position he made his Test debut in, in 2014.
“The only other thing is, I think the best time to bat is against the new ball and it might be the best time to score so that would be something they’d need to be mindful of,” he said.
“You could match (David) Warner with someone who is equally aggressive and see if you can get the runs quickly and on the board. Even Glenn Maxwell at the top would be an idea.
“I’m not saying it’s how they should go, but it’s one option which is worth considering, considering the percentage of overs that will be bowled by spin and that spin will open the bowling quite a bit as well.
“I know from my own experience that opening the batting in the UAE against Pakistan, I probably wasn’t the right option in my time.
“I think Pakistan will be different, they have a group of fast bowlers, that might be interesting. But in the other two tours, I can imagine they’re going to turn up and it’s going to spin on day one, so it’s a very, very different scenario to what they’ve just been playing against.”
The prospect of playing both Marsh and Green in your XI would allow Australia to bat down to No.9, with Cummins and Nathan Lyon no slouches with the bat either.
It would allow Maxwell to assist Lyon with spin bowling, while Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith can offer effective leg-spin.
On the slow, low pitches of India, Labuschagne, who has 12 wickets at 45 but took seven wickets at 22.42 with his quicker leg-spinners, could prove effective and, therefore, allow Australia to play nine batsmen.
Rogers believes having an attacking mindset is essential in Indian conditions, which is a strength of Maxwell and Marsh’s.
“You want to be able to trust your defence definitely, but you’ve got to be able to score off good bowling as well,” he said.
“If you can’t find ways to score, you feel like a sitting duck.
“The players who have the power and can put a bit of pressure back on the spin bowlers often succeed.
“The other thing I think about both of them is they give options with the ball and they bat deep.
“I would be thinking about how you can set up your team, so you can bat quite deep because runs are going to be very difficult to come by and you need as many runs as possible.”
MORE CRICKET NEWS
TOP TEST PLAYERS: Head’s rapid rise up ICC Test batting rankings after Ashes masterclass
LANGER’S FURY: ‘Imagine if a Wallabies coach won the Bledisloe then the World Cup’
‘ONE OF THE ALL-TIME T20 KNOCKS’: Maxwell delivers as Big Bash records destroyed
ASHES: 36 balls that prove England can rise from Ashes … and the Steve Smith problem not going away
Neither Maxwell, nor Marsh, have played much red ball cricket in recent years.
Maxwell particularly has hardly played a match because of his one day commitments, but scored a half-century in his last first-class innings and cracked 707 runs at 50.50 in his last full season in 2017-18.
Regardless, Rogers does not think it matters how much red ball cricket Maxwell has played, insisting the conditions in Sheffield Shield cricket are starkly different to those found in Test cricket, particularly in India.
“You marry up what happens in a Sheffield Shield game, it doesn’t really point to what’s going to happen in a Test match in those conditions because the wickets here have been suited to fast bowling whereas it’s going to spin over there,” Rogers said.
“I understand the concept of batting time and all those sorts of things, but do you need to pick Glenn Maxwell on the back of a green MCG pitch to know whether he’s going to be capable of playing a Test match in Asia?”
READ MORE
A decade ago Australia made its biggest Test punt. Now selectors should take another on Maxi
Maxwell is due to get married during Australia’s three Test tour of Pakistan in March, which could put his place in the squad in doubt.
But the 33-year-old is holding out hope of featuring in the baggy green later this year.
“It’s definitely realistic,” Maxwell said in early December.
“I think I am probably playing as well as ever have at the moment.
“I feel really good about my game. I have been able to work on different techniques for different formats, which has really helped going forward.
“I have been in constant contact with selectors and they have been really clear about if opportunities do pop up then I am ready for the red ball.”
This news is republished from another source. You can check the original article here