Unusual Smith issue rocks Australia<\/a><\/p>\nLabuschagne is yet to score a half-century in four innings this series, extending his drought to 14 innings without a 50 dating back to last summer\u2019s Ashes, to go with his three-year wait for a century.<\/p>\n
He appeared solid with twin scores of 37 in Durban in the first Test but threw away a start in both, just as he did in the second innings in Gqeberha.<\/p>\n
For Hussey, who famously endured his own mid-career drought that led to concern over his place in the team, that\u2019s an important sign of improvement.<\/p>\n
Marnus Labuschagne shoulders arms in Gqeberha. (Photo by Marco Longari \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the criticism\u2019s been fair in the past that he (Labuschagne) hasn\u2019t really looked good in his first 20, 30, 40 balls,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not been able to score, he\u2019s just been sort of hanging in there and surviving. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut now he\u2019s actually looking quite good to start his innings. He\u2019s getting going. He\u2019s looking to score again. He\u2019s putting the bad ball away, still defending well. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s done the hard work, now he\u2019s just got to go on with it. So I guess that\u2019s the next step. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m certainly seeing him playing better now than he was maybe six months ago. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing how the game works. When it\u2019s not really your time, then that little lapse in concentration, bang, you find yourself back to the pavilion.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I guess the good sign is at least he\u2019s doing the hard work and getting through the initial phase. He\u2019s just got to keep concentrating for longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labuschagne\u2019s dismissal was all the more frustrating having been saved by the DRS from being given out LBW off Harmer only minutes earlier.<\/p>\n
Hussey also has concerns over growing calls for Australia\u2019s Test team to be rejuvenated, with the XI not featuring a single player under 30 for the first time ever in Durban and remaining unchanged at St George\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n
One of Test cricket\u2019s great late bloomers after making a long-awaited debut in late 2005 as a 30-year-old, he has cautioned against bringing in youth for youth\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all good and well saying get rid of the 30-plus guys, but who are you going to bring in?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been a believer that you don\u2019t just blood someone in Test match cricket \u2013 they need to have earned that spot. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re putting someone in there to see if he\u2019s good enough, then I think that\u2019s the wrong reason to be picking someone for to wear that baggy green cap. You need to be picking someone because you know he can help Australia win Test matches as soon as he gets there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got players that are absolutely banging the door down at the level below and putting enormous pressure on, then yeah, definitely (make changes).<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if that pressure hasn\u2019t come consistently from below, then no, I wouldn\u2019t be making changes just for the sake of because someone\u2019s 33 years of age.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s probably only really one or two of the players that are at actual retirement age, the late 30s. The rest, I think, have still got plenty of good cricket in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beau Webster after his second dismissal on day four of the second Test. (Photo by Marco Longari \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
That depth is a matter of great concern in Australian cricket, with the paucity of runs at Sheffield Shield level over a number of seasons raising alarms high up in Cricket Australia.<\/p>\n
A CA directive urging curators to err on the side of batter-friendly wickets has yielded some early rewards, with NSW opener Ollie Davies recently scoring a spectacular 253 for the first Shield double-century in nearly 1000 days.<\/p>\n
But while Davies and several others have made excellent starts to the season, Hussey is far from convinced anyone has banged the door down to the level necessary to push their way into the Test team, with few exceptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just like one innings \u2013 Ollie Davies, that\u2019s one innings that he\u2019s done that,\u201d Hussey told foxsports.com.au. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see consistent, high-level performances. <\/p>\n
Davies smashes Shield double-ton record | 01:49<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really pleasing to see Sam Konstas score two really good scores in Perth in the recent Shield game \u2013 I think he\u2019s someone that\u2019s definitely got to be on the radar, and he\u2019s starting to put a little bit of body of work together. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think (Nathan) McSweeney\u2019s definitely put a body of work together for a period of time, whether that be for South Australia or Australia A. And I think Kurtis Patterson certainly has.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there are some players there that are definitely mounting a case and putting some pressure on above. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut no, I don\u2019t want to see just one innings here or there. I want to see a body of work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hussey is also a supporter of Australian selectors\u2019 much-debated preference for picking who they deem as the best six batters in the country and working out the order from there, rather than choosing specialist, in particular for opening the batting.<\/p>\n
The left-hander benefited from a similar thought process to carve out an outstanding Test career, having found a niche in the middle order despite spending much of his Sheffield Shield career before his call-up as an opener.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind the philosophy, to be honest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good. It\u2019s a testing convention. It\u2019s challenging traditional ideas. Can we do things better? What\u2019s our best way of winning this Test match?<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, there\u2019s been times that it\u2019s really worked \u2013 we all thought (Matt) Renshaw was going to open to batting throughout this series, and he did a great job batting at No. 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we should just get stuck in traditionally. We do need to test the boundaries and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hussey is less confident in Nic Maddinson\u2019s spot as opener, with two single-figure scores in Gqeberha continuing to call into question his shock call-up heading into the series.<\/p>\n
Nic Maddinson after his dismissal on day four of the second Test. (Photo by Marco Longari \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
The 34-year old hadn\u2019t played red-ball cricket in more than 18 months before being picked in Durban due to a cancer battle, with two ducks and an 8 around a quickfire 48 at Kingsmead leaving him averaging 14 for the tour so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just worried that were we setting him up for success or were we setting him up for failure?\u201d Hussey said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe hasn\u2019t played in almost two years and you\u2019re asking him to open the batting against a very good South African team in foreign conditions against a ball that is going to be moving around a bit early. I mean, that\u2019s tough for any experienced opener, let alone someone that hasn\u2019t played for a couple of years. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel for him. I feel like they\u2019re asking him to play a really difficult role, because especially opening in Test cricket, it is such a tough role and it\u2019s a learned role.<\/p>\n
\u201c I don\u2019t agree that I think anyone can just go up and do it and do it well. Even watching him play on Day 4, as an opener with years and years of experience, you learn when there\u2019s times to attack, when there\u2019s times to defend, when there\u2019s times to let the ball go. <\/p>\n
\u201cI watched his innings – I don\u2019t know if he actually had to play at any ball that he faced. Maybe there might have been one or two out, but he played at so many balls outside that off stump. Some he missed, some he hit for four.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first 15, 20 minutes, half an hour of that innings, he just had to try and get the shine off that new ball, get through that first spell of (Kagiso) Rabada, get through that first spell of Marco Jansen.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Cameron Green set to return from an abdominal injury for the third Test in Cape Town, Maddinson appears the most obvious candidate to make way, with Hussey in favour of an order reshuffle that would see Renshaw return to opening.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is someone that has opened the batting a lot throughout his first-class career, so he understands that role probably a lot better than Nic Maddinson does at this stage,\u201d he said of the Queenslander.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be happy with that (moving him to open).\u201d<\/p>\n
Hussey also believes the opening spot, while not necessarily for only openers, needs to be occupied by players with solid techniques, as was the case for former great Simon Katich of yesteryear, who provided great service at the top of the order despite batting in the middle order at first-class level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some fundamentals of the game that will always remain true and will always remain solid,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Khawaja: ‘Opening is a specialist spot’ | 02:36<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to being an opening batter in Test match cricket, it\u2019s a bloody tough role. It\u2019s something that takes years and years of learning, being in different situations, to actually be able to handle those situations as well as you possibly can. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not something you can just go, let\u2019s just give him a go at doing that because we think someone else might do a better job down (the order) or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the make-up of the top order will be front of mind going into the crucial third Test in Cape Town, one face Hussey does expect to see back in the team is Nathan Lyon.<\/p>\n
The off-spinner was dropped for the second Test in favour of a four-man pace attack, with inclusion Scott Boland excelling with a five-wicket haul but captain Pat Cummins going wicketless and Josh Hazlewood struggling with illness.<\/p>\n
For Hussey, that selection call was also an error \u2013 though Green\u2019s fitness to bowl as well as bat may be crucial to his chances of returning to the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s nice weather and the forecast is relatively dry, then I would expect him to be in the team,\u201d he said of a Lyon recall.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe a bit of it comes down to the availability of Cameron Green to be able to bowl \u2026 if he can bowl, say, 10 to 15 overs a day, then that would certainly help a lot, and then work in Nathan Lyon\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, I always like to have a spinner in the XI. I just think it adds variety to the attack, especially someone like Nathan who can play dual roles \u2013 he can just try and bowl and keep it tight if need be, he can also look to attack if the conditions suit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it was up to me, I would (pick Lyon).\u201d<\/p>\n
RSA vs AUS: Test 2, Day 4 Highlights | 15:43<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Australian great Michael Hussey has hit back at calls for major change to the Test team, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-936540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936540","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=936540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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