Ashes stars rewarded as young gun is culled<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cNothing\u2019s really changed in terms of the fact of the matter that he\u2019s on a journey. Is he highly talented? Yes. Is he on a journey to become a complete and better player? Yes, as all players are,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we saw some promising signs towards the back end (of the season). I think he was consistently getting starts. I think at the start of the season there was a lot of chopping and changing around his technique and methods at different times. \u201cBut it looked like that was settling and he was starting to find his feet in terms of what he wanted to knuckle down and commit to and what was working for him. So I think we can take some positives out of the fact he was getting consistent starts across those Shield games. <\/p>\n
\u201cWould he have liked to have gone on and scored some big runs out of that? No doubt, once you\u2019ve done the hard work and got those starts, but, you know, he remains a player that we\u2019re incredibly interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Konstas out for 31, Kuhnemann surprises | 00:55<\/p>\n
An Australia A team is scheduled to tour India in coming months, with Konstas firmly in the frame to add to his experience.<\/p>\n
While Jake Weatherald has earned a contract and is the incumbent opener, that does not necessarily mean he is a guaranteed starter against Bangladesh in August, with Bailey noting England had exposed a flaw in his technique during the summer.<\/p>\n
Weatherald is heading to England for a County cricket stint and Bailey said aspirants including Konstas and Matt Renshaw will have a chance to press their claims in a month-long camp in Brisbane preceding the Top End Tour against Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an indication (but) it\u2019s not a guarantee. He\u2019s the incumbent in that role. He\u2019s had a few good years of really consistent first class cricket as well,\u201d Bailey said. <\/p>\n
\u201c(We\u2019re) not shying away from (the fact) I think there was a real plan and a target from England around some of the technical aspects of his game, but we think he can play and I think he\u2019s got a really good opportunity now that he\u2019s going to go to Leicester for a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had a good period of time bouncing out of that Ashes series (and) he went straight to work on how we could address some of those and hopefully fine tune his game. I think we\u2019ve seen at his best that it can at that level. So it\u2019s just about maybe tinkering with a couple of things and just being able to replicate that for longer periods and hopefully across a range of conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a wide ranging press conference following the announcement of the 21 players contracted by Cricket Australia for the next year, Bailey touched on several topics including the fitness of Cameron Green and Nathan Lyon.<\/p>\n
‘Huge mistake’ Weatherald walks | 00:50<\/p>\n
THE GREEN FLARE UP<\/p>\n
A day after Australian coach Andrew McDonald said Green will be backed to deliver on his considerable promise, Bailey provided an update on the Western Australian\u2019s health after a flare up in India over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Questions were raised when the highly-paid all-rounder was unable to bowl for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL but the Australian selection chair said the franchise was aware he had an issue before travelling to India.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s picked it up. (There was a) routine scan on the back of his surgery, and then building up throughout the summer, he has regular check ins and I just think one of those check ins flagged that there was a little bit of something going on. So it was just a small period of de-load, I think, for him,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that was, to be honest, blown out of proportion a little bit on the back of a one-liner from a captain. I\u2019m pretty sure KKR were very aware of how Cam was going once he got over there, and also aware that he\u2019ll be back at the bowling crease reasonably soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australian selection chair George Bailey believes Cameron Green, pictured batting for the Kolkata Knight Riders, will resume bowling shortly in the IPL. (AP Photo\/Rafiq Maqbool)Source: AP<\/p>\n
A REALITY CHECK FOR LYON<\/p>\n
The severe hamstring injury which cut short Nathan Lyon\u2019s Ashes campaign is healing but Bailey conceded it is possible the champion off-spinner will need to be managed through the heavy load next summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think concern is the word I\u2019d use but there\u2019s a sense of realism, I guess, that with a pretty significant hamstring tendon injury to a 38-year-old, that probably there\u2019s a higher degree or sense of realism that it may not ever get back to the upper echelon of where you need it to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that look like? It may mean there\u2019s not necessarily the capacity to play big blocks of games and you may have to look at that. So I think (we\u2019ve) just been a little bit aware that that\u2019s a possibility. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut having said all that, as it stands at the moment, (this is) a really good block for him to get it as strong and to get back to bowling as well as he can. He\u2019s got a great opportunity for that and it\u2019s tracking well at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – DECEMBER 21: Nathan Lyon badly injured a hamstring in Adelaide against England last December and while he is recovering, national selector George Bailey has flagged the veteran may need to be managed over a hectic period of Test cricket beginning against Bangladesh in August. (Photo by Philip Brown\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
While Bailey expressed concern about the lack of opportunities being offered to spin bowlers in domestic cricket, he said there was good reason for Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann to feature among the 21 contracted players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we are just trying to maintain that connection, particularly with Todd, who was really, really close to playing in Sydney. We like the skill set that he brings,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, you would expect that (with) a number of those (Tests in) India, we know we\u2019re going to need the spin depth. In England, we know we\u2019re going to need some spin depth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not entirely sure that will be applicable for South Africa, and then the Top End is probably a little bit of an unknown. You can get some quite flat and benign wickets there.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Lyon misses 4th Test, who comes in? | 02:09<\/p>\n
HOPE REMAINS FOR BANISHED QUICKS<\/p>\n
Jhye Richardson has gone from making a fairytale return from a serious injury on Boxing Day to losing his spot as a contracted quick alongside fellow Western Australian Lance Morris. <\/p>\n
But the message from Bailey to the fast bowlers and others on the fringe of selection including South Australia\u2019s Sheffield Shield winning skipper Nathan McSweeney, Konstas and Renshaw is to make sure your game is in order over the next year.<\/p>\n
With the amount of cricket Australia has to play, he said that opportunities are certain to pop up, noting that an additional ten players received a contract over the past year when called on for national honours.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Jhye, (and) I\u2019d throw Lance into this conversation as well, we thought it was really important to make sure that we supported them through the last couple of years as they were working through their injuries. Both remain hopefully important players for us,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 17: Jhye Richardson has been cut from Cricket Australia\u2019s list of contracted players, with Australian selector George Bailey saying he needs to regain his top speed to further his Test ambitions. (Photo by Matt King\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Jhye did an incredible job to get back to play that Test. We probably saw that he could function in a team with four quicks (but he) still has got a little bit of work to do, I think, just to get back to the top-end speed and that intensity of being able to be in an attack with three quicks.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut hopefully that\u2019ll build over time. And as I said, both he and Lance still in the mix. I think when you look ahead at that schedule over the next 12 to 18 months, it\u2019s incredibly busy, and we know we\u2019re going to have to utilise some depth outside our contracted list.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aussie fires Kings to win over Titans | 02:18<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Konstas was among a cohort of cricketers delivered the rudest of April Fools\u2019 Day jokes on Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[6074,91335,1724,64,63,689,15913,283583,122618,60163,651,18762,283592,248203,283589,3746,3567,740,1950,69543,1208,2057,44212,4517,283586,283590,283585,1209,44226,60153,31774,29547,18779,283584,673,3583,677,668,701,283587,3232,283588,273339,17069,44866,1183,1124,18780,12540,189805,85,670,89809,283591,3586],"class_list":["post-578067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-africa","tag-andrew-mcdonald","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-coach","tag-australian-selection-chair","tag-australian-selectors","tag-bowling-crease","tag-brisbane","tag-cameron-green","tag-check-ins","tag-city-of-leicester","tag-class-cricket","tag-county-cricket","tag-courtney-walsh","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-news","tag-domestic-cricket","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-george-bailey","tag-hamstring-injury","tag-hamstring-tendon-injury","tag-highly-paid-all-rounder","tag-incumbent-opener","tag-india","tag-jake-weatherald","tag-jhye-richardson","tag-kolkata-knight-riders","tag-nathan-lyon","tag-nathan-mcsweeney","tag-national-contract-list","tag-new-south-wales","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-press-conference","tag-queensland","tag-real-plan","tag-reality-check","tag-regular-check-ins","tag-routine-scan","tag-sam-konstas","tag-skill-set","tag-south-africa","tag-south-australia","tag-southern-africa","tag-southern-asia","tag-spin-depth","tag-sports","tag-sydney","tag-todd-murphy","tag-top-end-speed","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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