ok I'm happy to sink the boat into Langer whenever possible but the Usman thing needs to be slightly clarified. Usman was dropped for the fourth test of the 2019 Ashes because Australia created an artificial batting selection logjam due to injury and poorly thought out selection. Usman got the boot because he had the least compelling narrative to keep him in the team. here's what happened:
- between Sandpaper gate in 2018 and the start of the 2019 Ashes, Australia failed to unearth a successful replacement opener despite the two opening spots becoming available.
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of the 6 batters who had a shot opening, only Usman and Joe Burns scored a ton. Usman did in the UAE when he was moved to opening for the tour and Joe Burns did it in Canberra against SL, an innings that was essentially disregarded and Burns was removed from consideration for the Ashes, replaced with Warner
- the other incumbent opener, Marcus Harris, was fighting with Bancroft, the pseudo incumbent opener, for the other spot.
- As I recall, neither Burns or Bancroft did anything in the lead-up to the 1st test to make them the preferred candidate.
- Bancroft was selected, presumably because it was decided he was the better batter
- After the 2nd test, Steve Smith was ruled out for the 3rd test with concussion, meaning Marnus, who had impressed massively as a replacement in the last innings of the 4th test was staying in the team
- After the 2nd test, Bancroft was dropped for Harris. This was applauded loudly by many but not by me who said "dropping Bancroft is stupid"
- My reasons for this were: 1) How could Harris suddenly be better than Bancroft when he wasn't two tests ago? 2) What happens for the fourth test when Smith returns? If you kept Bancroft in the team for the 3rd test, you could either drop him for that test and move Usman to opening or if Bancroft scores runs, great! Again how could Harris had become better than Bancroft in the space of 2 games sitting on the bench?
- So of course Smith comes back for the fourth test and someone has to go. It's often said Usman's form was not acceptable but his form was no worse than some of the others.
over the previous 10 months + 11 tests Usman's performances were perfectly average. Restricting it to just the three tests that had happened in the 2019 Ashes,
Usman had a subpar average of 20 in 3 tests...which was still better than the openers and within touching distance of Wade (who scored under 10 in 5 innings and one 100 lmao).
- This is where Usman being dropped for having the least compelling narrative comes into play. Consider the other people: Warner (legend of the team), Harris ("you can't drop someone after one test" is a beloved rule of Australian cricket. Unless you're Callum Ferguson.), Marnus (he was a made man after the 2nd and 3rd tests), Travis Head (probably the other option to drop but I don't think Usman moving to 5 was considered and Head had an important knock on the last day on the 2nd test with Marnus), Wade (he had the only ton by a non Steve Smith player).
- Following the Ashes, the opening roundabout continued, with Burns, Wade, Pucovski, Harris all getting games. Usman's shield form was horrible and so was not considered, despite of course being better than all those guys except maybe Pucovski
- His shield form improved to the point of being on-call, and of course getting the call-up when Head got covid in the 2021-22 Ashes
(I droned on about this about the time and obviously it's the most correct I've ever been about anything, so)
