Australia in a Spin
Monday, November 22, 2010 : The Ashes, England, Tests
It’s fair to say that in selecting Xavier Doherty ahead of Nathan Hauritz, the Australian selectors have added an element of mystery about their Ashes squad. The English batsmen will be forgiven for not knowing much about 27 year old Doherty, seeing as not long ago the spinner couldn’t even force his way into the Tasmania first team.
Until recently Doherty had been thought of as a one-day specialist and had rarely been used in the longer forms of the game. Cricket betting pundits note that this season has seen a significant improvement in Doherty’s game, especially his ability to transfer his one-day talents into the four-day game for Tasmania.
It was the one-day side where Doherty recently announced himself on the international scene. Making his debut in the limited overs series loss to Sri Lanka, Doherty took two wickets in his first over before producing a brilliant run-out in an impressive performance. It could also have been a very timely nudge the selectors needed in finally dropping Hauritz.
Doherty’s place in the Ashes squad will definitely have a lot to do with Hauritz’s serious lack of form over the past 12 months. Despite being one of Australia’s best bowlers in the last Ashes series in England, Hauritz has struggled this season and in last month’s series loss in India, the off-spinner was far from threatening as his was given a jolly good seeing to by Sachin et al.
Those placing a cricket free bet are aware that Hauritz failed to improve his performances back on home soil and was again poor during the Sheffield Shield, pretty much forcing the selectors to go with the uncapped Doherty as well as New South Wales’ spinner Steven Smith.
The decision hasn’t gone down well in all parts of Australia, with Shane Warne particularly vocal in his view of how Hauritz has been treated. Warne is of the mindset that Hauritz has earned the right to ‘have a crack at the Poms’. While he may have a point, if Hauritz had been picked and gone on to be thumped all over the shop at the Gabba, then the selectors would have been certainly blamed.
While the Ashes isn’t the place to let sentimentality get in the way of decisions, whether it’s the place to throw in a spinner with only 32 first-class games under his belt remains to be seen.
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