Indeed. You can't go into any Test match with a passenger in the team. It was clear from the 2nd innings at the Basin that the confidence wasn't there to use him, so why in blue blazes would you select him again? It beggars belief. And, lo and behold, for the more experienced change bowler, he bowled 9 overs compared to Sears' 33. Wtaf. It's such a dense piece of selectorial behaviour.
He is although if I was Carey I would be a bit stiff about him not playing out that last over.
The weird thing about this is that it was made out like Southee was the driving force behind him being fast-tracked from his 0-60 in a T20 in the UAE straight into the test XI.
He didn't really have the incumbency though. He got outbowled by Tickner who retained his selection for the SL series after Wagner broke. I agree those early season Plunket stats would've been awfully tempting - though TJB noted at the time that that Australia A side he played against was a glorified PM's XI and his wickets there should've been taken with a massive grain of salt (Sean Solia cleaned up too if memory serves).
Cummins didn't know he was on 98. Scoreboard at the ground didn't show the players scores at the time apparently. Can't blame Cummins for not having that worked out in his head when he's trying to win a 4th innings chase.
Shouldn't matter anyway. It's a test match and individual miletones should be irrelevent if you can win the game ASAP. You don't extend the game and risk a hatrick next over by not scoring the winning runs
Incumbency perhaps the wrong word, I just meant he was higher in the pecking order than the competition (guys who haven't played internationals yet) for his particular role, which isn't Tickner's role. Smith was probably the only really serious competition I had in mind.
Wasn't Cummins demoted below Starc due to poor batting? My general impression is he was #8 because he was seen as being "solid" and having some ability with the bat, then never made any runs and got demoted, and now just seems to be a heroic innings specialist who doesn't make runs otherwise.
Also hardly bowled (if at all) in the SuperSmash.
Yeah, fair point. A big part of it is just plain bad luck that Smith, Sears and Fisher all had season ending injuries late in 2022 and so a) were unavailable for selection for the England tour and; b) missed the opportunity to bowl in Australia over the winter.
Yeah it's weird. When the pressure isn't really on he bats like McGrath
We're just warming up.
