Australian selectors made some eyebrow-raising selections for the first two Ashes Tests.
Missing from the list of players who played the last Test against Bangladesh in September are wicket-keeper Matthew Wade, Matt Renshaw and Glenn Maxwell.
Here we look at their omissions.
Matthew Wade
Verdict: Fair
The 29-year-old wicket-keeper has fallen behind in the pecking order fairly quickly. Since becoming the first-choice keeper at the end of 2016, having made his debut in 2012, Wade made just one fifty in 10 Tests. For a team that doesn’t have a quality Test all-rounder, such returns were never going to be enough. Unfortunately for Wade, he returned to the Test team for the tours of India and Bangladesh which are exceptionally tough for the men behind the stumps.
His spot should have ideally gone to Peter Nevill who has played 17 Tests and is the best batsman-keeper in the country. But the selectors went for Tim Paine, who last played a Test in 2010.
If @pmnevill isn't being selected because he doesn't score enough runs then perhaps the Australian captain should remember the day he was first selected for an Ashes series.
— stu macgill (@scgmacgill) November 16, 2017
Matt Renshaw
Verdict: Close call
The left-handed opening batsmen is one of the most exciting young talents to come out of Australia in a long time. His batting at the top of the order during a bruising tour of India, where he hit a couple of sixties and a 44, showed the 21-year-old is a long-term prospect. However, a dramatic loss in form saw him fail to score a fifty in nine first-class innings. A quiet end to the India tour was followed by four innings in Bangladesh without a fifty, ultimately working against him. However, it was in January that Renshaw hit a masterful 184 against Pakistan so to drop him the same year is harsh. The superlative form of Cameron Bancroft, who hit a double hundred in his last first-class match and two fifties against a New South Wales attack that is basically the national line-up, tilted the scales in his favour.
Matt Renshaw’s last Test innings in Australia was 184 at the SCG in January. Made runs in India. Surely for an incumbent, that deserves at least a Test, regardless of Shield form.
— Phil Lutton (@phillutton78) November 16, 2017
Glenn Maxwell
Verdict: Unfair
The all-rounder must be wondering what more he needs to do to get a regular stint in the Test team and more importantly, in Australia. Maxwell has played all his seven Tests in the subcontinent and the UAE. He scored a century in the drawn Ranchi Test against India and in his last match – against Bangladesh – hit 63 runs in the Test the Aussies won by seven wickets. What makes his omission even more difficult to digest is Shaun Marsh has been recalled for the eighth time since his debut in 2011. Marsh is not even averaging 40 in first-class cricket of late and he doesn’t offer much by way of bowling, something Maxwell does.
George Bailey - 35, too old.
— Adam White (@White_Adam) November 16, 2017
Ed Cowan - 35, too old.
Cameron White - 34, too old.
Shaun Marsh - 34, not too old.
