Australia has come to a road block when looking for an all rounder. Should we be playing one is the real question.
Ever since the Ashes of 2005 when Andrew Flintoff dominated against the Australians, the selectors have been hell bent on finding a Freddy that can bowl and regularly take wickets, while also making runs with the bat. Symonds looked the part after a couple of seasons of success, but the IPL and a number of off field discretions seem to have put his mind elsewhere.
This summer we've tried a number of all rounders, but they have either struggled or are injured. Shane Watson had a very good tour of India, picking up 10 wickets at 32 and making 172 runs at an average of 24.
But he was dropped for Andrew Symonds after a poor test against New Zealand at the Gabba. Symonds has been nothing special as well in his return from the 'Gone Fishing' saga. In 4 tests against both New Zealand and South Africa, Symonds has come up with 167 runs at an average of 24 and just the 1 wicket for a total of 57 runs. The selectors added more confusion to the debacle when Symonds was chosen over Watson even though he needed surgery on his Knee. Then the news that Watson was out for 6 months with stress fractures in his break.
Who should fill that number 6 position though? Victorian Andrew McDonald was chosen to make his debut at Sydney, adding more confusion as to why we need an All Rounder to fill that number 6 position.
We also have many sole batsmen who are looking for a spot in the Test team. Marcus North is the form middle order batsman in the Sheffield Shield at the moment, having scored 485 runs with 2 centuries in 12 innings at an average of 43.49.
Michael Klinger is the best batsman in the comp this summer and could always move down the order. He has scored 906 runs with 4 centuries at an average of over 90 this season. He might be just what we need to stop our lower order collapses.
Many others who could come into the side as a batsman include Callum Ferguson (380 runs this season at 38), Lee Carseldine (346 at 49), Rob Quiney (311 at 44) and Nick Jewell (377 at 41).
The other only option is to play 5 bowlers and move Haddin up to 6. This not a bad idea because the tail have very much wagged this season; the last 5 wickets averaging 183.13 in the 2 series against New Zealand and South Africa (Up until the 1st innings of the 3rd test). Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Nathan Hauritz and Peter Siddle have all showed that they can bat, which is more of a reason that they could bring Hilfenhaus in to try and take 20 wickets to win a test.
Australia is in a real mess at the moment, unable to take 20 wickets, and unable to make over 200 with less than 5 wickets lost. Whatever happens, Whether we keep trying with McDonald, go for an extra batsman or an extra bowler, Australia has a lot to do to become the force they once were.
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