Travis Head's **** summer also gone a bit unnoticed. Outside his Adelaide ton (which was very good tbf, if extremely lucky) he did nothing. Could be whatever magic luck he's had over the last few years is wearing off too
Aaron Hardie could be his replacement
We're stuck with Marsh because he keeps making runs, which is a conflicting problem to have.
But Hardie is only 25 , has a FC average of 43 and played for Aus A , a lot of your best players are very old ..He must be very close to selection
Who is the next best batsman?
I like the look of young Shaun Marsh.
Marcus Harris and Cam Bancroft
He got couple of great balls tbf
Ricky Ponting had 3 ducks in 99 but not sure if they were golden
Close enough
I don't think he's that close tbh. He's certainly on the selectors radar but as previously discussed in this thread he had a pretty mediocre time of it last season and so will have fallen away in their thinking a little. He's done well this season without dominating but probably needs to keep that up for the rest of this year to be a serious contender. I would think that the main contenders for a middle order spot are Renshaw and McSweeney.
I'd probably consider Matt Short even though he's only just been 'pretty good' in the Shield since pretty much his debut. I'm kinda worried he's focusing too much on becoming a bosher; picking him in a Test squad might send a positive message. But McSweeney and Renshaw would definitely be picked before him.
I hear Whiteman is Gnske's favourite player
Whether this is the case or not, should be pointed out that he was coming in at like 3/30 in the first ten overs a fair bit this summer. If that's happening then the bigger problem is above him; short of peak Clarke that's a situation a lot of #5s would struggle with.
Some of his best innings were scored in suboptimal situations, like in Hobart vs England (3/12) and his 92 vs SA (3/27).
