With collapse after collapse, Australia’s Test batsmen are failing. Changes will be made, and several contenders will be desperate to impress in this week’s Sheffield Shield round. So, who are the batting candidates from outside the current squad?
Brydon Coverdale17-Nov-20164:59
Coverdale: Patterson, Handscomb ready for step up
Kurtis Patterson, 23 (NSW)
It has taken some years for Patterson to build on the potential shown in 2011, when at 18 he became the youngest batsman in Sheffield Shield history to score a century. But since the start of last summer, only George Bailey has more Shield runs than Patterson’s 959 at 53.27. Ed Cowan calls him the “best young top-order batsman in the country by miles”. Importantly, Patterson has worked on his patience, learning to bat for long periods: on a very slow and challenging pitch in Mackay last December he hunkered down for 261 balls for 55. And he can bat a side out of a hole: in March, the top order collapsed around him to be 4 for 26, but his 100 led the recovery and New South Wales won the match. He also has recent form, having made three half-centuries from four innings against South Africa A in July-August, and 111 and 60 in the first two Shield rounds of the season. Patterson is certainly one of the leading candidates for a call-up to Adelaide.Peter Handscomb, 25 (Vic)
On the list of Shield run scorers since the start of last summer, Patterson is closely followed by Handscomb, who in that time has 932 runs at 44.38. A versatile batsman who has moved up and down the order and now settled at No.4, Handscomb importantly has stepped up when given opportunities for Australia A. This winter he made a first-class 137 against South Africa A and 87 against India A, and on a tour of India last year impressed with 91 in Chennai. In that match he used his feet well against the spinners, and his state captain Matthew Wade this week described him as “arguably one of the best players of spin we’ve got in Australia”. Adding to his big-match credentials, he was Man of the Match in last summer’s Shield final win over South Australia for his 112 and 61*. He has started this Shield season with 78 and 60 in the first two rounds, and with 60 first-class games behind him, should be ready for Test cricket.Cameron Bancroft, 23 (WA)
If Australia’s selectors want a young batsman who can bat long – really long – then Bancroft should be the first name on their list. In March 2015, he batted for 13 hours and 567 balls in compiling 211 against New South Wales, comfortably the longest first-class innings by any Australian in the past decade. In fact, since his first-class debut, three of the 12 longest Shield innings have belonged to Bancroft. He found a way to handle spin against India A, sweeping to great effect on his way to 150 in Chennai last year, and is a likely candidate for next year’s Test tour of India. All of this makes it incomprehensible that Australia’s selectors picked him for a T20 earlier this year. Perhaps it was fortunate that he didn’t get to face a ball. Test cricket is Bancroft’s future. However, it is questionable whether now is the best time to choose him, for he hasn’t made a hundred in his past 23 first-class innings.Peter Handscomb has stepped up when it counts•Getty ImagesTravis Head, 22 (SA)
Highly rated for several years already, Head for a long while had one great failing as a first-class batsman: he couldn’t seem to crack triple figures. Early last summer he finally – in his 64th first-class innings – made a century, and went on to score three for the Shield season, including 192 against Tasmania, a remarkable innings in a low-scoring match. It was a fine way to step up in his first full season as South Australia’s captain. Whether he has a Test-match temperament perhaps remains to be seen – two of his three first-class tons have come at near or better than a run a ball – but equally there have been times when he has played in a more grinding style. Either way, his talent is not in question. At 22, he has already played for Australia in ODIs and T20s and captained his state to a Shield final. If his time is not now, it may not be far away.Nic Maddinson, 24 (NSW)
Ever since he scored a century on first-class debut at age 18, Maddinson has been watched closely as a future international prospect. His talent is not in doubt, but it has taken him some time settle into something resembling a Test-match temperament. Take his first-class 181 for Australia A against Gloucestershire in 2013 for example – it was a big innings but one that was smashed off 143 balls and fraught with danger. Although Maddinson had a modest 2015-16 Shield season, with 488 runs at 30.50, he scored 81 against India A in Brisbane this winter and has started this summer well, with 116 against Western Australia in his only game so far. Notably, it was a more patient knock, and one that took New South Wales from 3 for 57 to nearly 300.Jake Lehmann, 24 (SA)
On numbers alone, it is hard to argue with Lehmann’s credentials: he averages 48.96 in first-class cricket, with five centuries from his 18 appearances. He has also started this summer well, with 129* against Tasmania in the most recent Shield round, and he showed he could adapt to foreign conditions by scoring 116 for Yorkshire against Somerset during one of only two county first-class games that he played this year. Notably, that Yorkshire hundred was a rescue effort – he came in at 37 for 3, though was dropped at slip before he had scored. Lehmann is also well-rounded as a person away from cricket, having studied human movement and health science, and he is completing a masters in primary school teaching.Cameron Bancroft places a high price on his wicket•Getty ImagesMatt Renshaw, 20 (Qld)
Though perhaps not a candidate for right now, Renshaw is undoubtedly a batsman the selectors will watch over the next couple of years. An opener with a good old-fashioned Test match temperament, Renshaw describes his scoring style as “nurdling” and identifies Alastair Cook as a similar style of batsman. Last summer, in his first full Shield season, he scored 738 runs at 43.41, including two centuries. His patience was on display in Mackay, where on a very slow and challenging pitch he occupied the crease for 395 balls to make 170, which made him Queensland’s youngest first-class centurion of all time. This year, he played Matador Cup for the first time, and is yet to make his T20 debut. “I’d like to expand,” he said in July. “But I’ve got my opportunity with longer form cricket, so I don’t want to try and make something in the short form and then lose that longer form.” Renshaw made 94 against South Africa A this winter and has missed the first two Shield rounds due to a knee injury but is back this week.Marcus Stoinis, 27 (Vic)
He may not grab the headlines like some of the others, but Stoinis just keeps piling up runs. In fact, in the past three years he has made 1772 Shield runs at 43.21, and has more scores of 50-plus than anyone but Adam Voges during that period. Add to that a score of 120 against South Africa A in Brisbane during the winter, and 77 against India A in Chennai last year – having come in at 75 for 4 – and it becomes apparent that Stoinis has plenty of credits in the bank. He also adds an extra bowling option with his medium pace and has already played ODI and T20 cricket for Australia. On the downside, he hasn’t had a particularly productive start to the summer, but don’t be surprised if Stoinis finds himself in a Test squad at some point down the track.Matthew Wade, 28 (Vic)
Now we come to some older options, with Test experience. Wade is a combative type of cricketer and has two Test centuries to his name already – a good tally for a wicketkeeper from only 12 Tests – and both were scored from challenging situations. He has captaincy experience and nous, and could serve as a valuable lieutenant to Steven Smith. Wade started this season with 78 in the pink-ball Shield round and averages 39.40 from nearly 100 first-class games. But as a wicketkeeper, is he good enough to oust Peter Nevill? In any case, Nevill was one of the few Australians who showed patience and resolve in the Perth Test, where he ran out of partners trying to save the match and batted nearly four hours for 60*. It is hard to accept that replacing Nevill is the answer to Australia’s issues.Jake Lehmann has had an outstanding start to his first-class career•Getty ImagesGlenn Maxwell, 28 (Vic)
Nobody doubts Maxwell’s talent, and it is true that his first-class record – an average of 41.64 and five centuries – is impressive for a man often viewed as a short-form specialist. But is Maxwell the type of batsman Australia want coming in to rebuild after a collapse? With a strike-rate of nearly 80 in first-class cricket, Maxwell might need to show a more measured batting side to convince the selectors that he is the man for a crisis. His three Test appearances so far have not augured particularly well. Still, after being dropped for the first round of the Shield season, he bounced back with 81 from 138 balls against Queensland, and will no doubt be talked about at the selection table.Cameron White, 33 (Vic)
Bizarrely picked as a legspinner for four Tests in India in 2008 despite hardly bowling domestically, White’s Test career will probably remain limited to that one tour, especially if the selectors now decide to look long-term and blood young batsmen. However, if they decide they want experience, fight and recent runs, then he might come under consideration. One especially notable innings came in Alice Springs in March, when Victoria collapsed to be 5 for 56 in their second innings. It left White and the lower order needing to bat out 74.2 overs against New South Wales to salvage a draw and a place in the Shield final. It is a scenario that should sound familiar after the Perth Test. Well, Victoria did it, and White remained at the end unbeaten on 97 from 253 balls. He also has a century and a fifty from the first two Shield rounds this season, and was the leading scorer in the Matador Cup.George Bailey, 34 (Tas)
As with White, age is the main factor against Bailey, whose only five Test appearances came during Australia’s Ashes whitewash in 2013-14. But since the start of last summer, nobody has made more Shield runs than Bailey’s 1020 at 53.68, and he believes he is a much better red-ball cricketer now than during that Ashes campaign, when much of his lead-up focus had been on the short forms. It is possible that Bailey’s strong one-day record in India could help him gain selection for the Test tour there early next year, although the pitches offered up will likely be far tougher to bat on than those he is used to from his limited-overs tours. He is in form, though, and started this Shield summer with 64 in the first round and 142* in the second.Michael Klinger, 36 (WA)
If an uncapped 36-year-old is the answer, then surely Australia have spent too long asking the wrong question. In the later stages of his career, Klinger has made mountains of runs, and his overall first-class average of 40.28 is weighed down by a few leaner seasons early in his career. A journeyman now at his third state, Klinger appears destined to end his career without gaining an international cap, for it is hard to imagine the selectors now wanting to do anything but rebuild for the future. It is a shame for Klinger is clearly the kind of batsman who loves batting time, and puts a high price on his wicket. In the past decade, five of the ten longest Sheffield Shield innings by balls faced have belonged to Klinger.
