If Brad Haddin, Chris Rogers and others retire, CA sure talent is waiting

If Brad Haddin, Chris Rogers and others retire, CA sure talent is waiting to step up
BY BEN HORNE THE DAILY TELEGRAPH JULY 23, 2015 10:00PM SHARE
   


Gary Ballance dropped for third Ashes test

James Pattinson is part of Australian cricket’s promising future.James Pattinson is part of Australian cricket’s promising future.
Gary Ballance dropped for third Ashes te...James Pattinson is part of Australian cr...
CRICKET Australia says they’ve tried to “crystal ball” potential post-Ashes retirements as best they can and are confident in the new wave of talent coming through the system.

Fast bowler Ryan Harris was forced to call it quits before the series even began, and it appears likely the end may be nearing for at least Brad Haddin and Chris Rogers, with several other Australian stars also north of 33 years of age.



It wasn’t so long ago that the mass retirements of greats like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Matt Hayden and Adam Gilchrist hit Australian cricket hard, or when Mike Hussey caught the side by complete surprise when he gave it away.

But the powers-that-be now try to stay ahead of the game and have regular conversations with senior players about their future plans.

Brad Haddin and other Australian test players are the wrong side of 35.

CA say they would never force any player to retire, but believe they will be ready if and when that time comes, with the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Usman Khawaja, Joe Burns, James Faulkner, Moises Henriques, Matt Wade, Stephen O’Keefe, James Pattinson and Gurinder Sandhu among those waiting in the wings.

Several of those names are currently with Australia A on a tour of India, and are likely to form the nucleus of a new-look ODI team to be led by Steve Smith which will take on England post-Ashes.

It could be a stepping stone to the changing face of the Test team.

“Every player in this team is trying to play for Australia at some stage in the next little bit so performances in this tournament are key going forward with one dayers at the end of the Ashes and the summer coming up,” said Australia A keeper, Wade.


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“(Peter Nevill) got his chance in the Test team and I’m obviously sitting third if you want to go in pecking order, but I played the last one-day series before the World Cup and did pretty well so I see myself playing one-day cricket if I can perform well enough and put my hand up for the next tour.”

Cricket Australia head of team performance Pat Howard told News Corp in a pre-Ashes interview that depth was strong enough across the board to safeguard against retirements.

“Obviously you’ve got to be upfront and have those conversations and we have contract meetings with these players (who have more games behind them than in front of them) and we try the best we can to crystal ball it,” said Howard.

“For these things you have to be prepared for retirements but you don’t have to force any of these to a great degree.

“But I think we’ve got to make sure that as a system we’ve got players coming up behind that if form dictates, are ready to step in and take their opportunity.

Australia suffered recently when a number of key players retired in quick succession.

“From a bowling perspective everyone is very buoyant that we’ve got the ability to take 20 wickets in lots of conditions across the world, (and that’s been the case) for a fair while now. That’s one of the things we’ve got to not get complacent on.

“We’ve got some depth in keeping and I think with Rod Marsh being the national selector, he’s got a very keen interest in (that).

“People quickly forget that Joe Burns played two Tests and scored two 50s, or you can go back to the Henriques’, the Wades, or the Maxwells — these are guys that have put their hand up.

“Usman Khawaja is captaining Australia A.

“We’ve just got to make sure we keep giving the selectors tough choices.”

Burns, who can open or bat in the middle order, was left out of the tours of the West Indies and England but remains positive about his chances of working his way back into the Australian team.


Who will be selected for the the third test: Haddin or Nevill?

“It’s a fantastic side so it’s a hard team to get into and a hard team to stay in,” he said.

“I’m just trying to score as many runs as possible in every game I play so this tour is a great opportunity to do that and learn sub-continent conditions.”

Fawad Ahmed travelled to England as the second spinner, but O’Keefe hopes he remains in the frame ahead of the tour of Bangladesh in October.

“For me if Nathan keeps playing for Australia and there’s an opportunity to play two spinners, I’d like to think that could be my position in the team, so that’s the way I look at it,” he said.