Summer Is Coming: Australia's Test Squad To Tour Aotearoa
Fair dinkum, dingo, thong, shrimp, hectic
Our lovely Australian neighbours have decided to name their Test squad to tour Aotearoa, at long last Australia will tour Aotearoa. While Australia and England enjoy five Tests to truly flex their muscles, drum up crazy levels of hype and get under each other's skin, our close relationship with Australia means that we are treated to TWO Tests, that's nice of them huh?
The reason I'm dirty on the number of Tests these teams will play is because the sub-plot-mind-games/strategies have already been kicked off by Australia and chief selector Rod Marsh. When the kiwis were touring Australia, all we heard from the Aussies was about their requirement for pace, yeah you know the story - 'Aussie pitches are flatter so the bowlers need to be able to bully batsmen with pace'.
Marsh hasn't backflipped on this belief as there's still the likes of James Pattinson who can get everyone looking at the speed-gun like people do with Adam Milne, however with Josh Hazlewood and Peter Siddle backed up by Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers, Australia have a bowling unit that is designed to succeed in Aotearoa. Sure, Australia are without their very best bowlers who are out injured, however it's important to note that Bird and Sayers weren't selected to play against the West Indies, that honour fell to Scott Boland who has been dropped to make way for bowlers more suited to kiwi conditions.
Pattinson will crank it up over 140km/h, but even he will stay in the 'corridor of uncertainty' (shout out to Damien Fleming one time) as Pattinson loves to swing full deliveries at pace; Pattinson will want to bottle our conditions. Siddle is a workhorse who aims to hit the top of off-stump with a bit of nibble off the pitch while Hazlewood is the second coming of Glenn McGrath so it's safe to say that they will also enjoy our conditions.
As for Bird and Sayers, I've got them ranked below those three in the depth chart and with Nathan Lyon there, we'll probably only see Australia pick three seamers with Mitchell Marsh bowling plenty of overs. Bird has played Test cricket before and is the poster boy for Australian nibblers as he's less about pace and more about line and length, 174 First Class wickets at an average of 24.35 tell a fair story.
Sayers is the new kid on the block and he's apparently been in the frame for a call up since taking 48 wickets at an average of 18.52 in the 2012/13 First Class season. When you consider Sayers' career FC numbers: 38 games, 145 wickets, 24.82 average, 2.62 rpo, you're left wondering how Australia keep churning out such quality bowlers.
Of course Sayers hasn't done this at Test level though.
What is clear is that Australia are coming to Aotearoa full of respect for the BLACKCAPS and kiwi conditions, plus a bucket-load of confidence that they can beat the kiwis at home. To fully understand this we must remember how far to one extreme (aggressive, pace, bounce, I'M GONNA BOUNCE YOU OUT MATE) Australia have gone and you wouldn't be foolish for thinking that they would adopt this again with Hazlewood left to nibble the ball around.
Even if Sayers and Bird don't play, Australia's three-pronged pace attack are far better suited to success in Aotearoa than other combinations Australia have rolled out recently. Siddle and Hazlewood are both 'line and length' bowlers with Hazlewood offering the variety thanks to his height, while I think we should all mentally prepare for Pattinson's out-swing to do some damage. These are Australia's front-line bowlers, near certainties to start and they're nicely suited to Test cricket in Aotearoa.
Ah the batsmen, well not much is different here with Shaun Marsh likely to be the extra batsman carrying the drinks. This far out we can expect an Australian batting line up of Warner, Burns, Khawaja, Smith, Voges, Marsh and Nevill.
One idea to ponder is how Australia's batsmen failed in England in the Ashes. Now that was a very different batting line up, however kiwi conditions - if they are how the Australian selectors think they will be (swing and seam) - could highlight the lack of footwork from Australia's best batsmen. I'm not all in on this idea, it's just a hopeful idea .
They're coming folks, I guess 'Summer Is Coming' ... ?