It appears the Australian cricket selectors have finally got the hint and realised they need to start regenerating the Test line-up ASAP.
Australia’s new-look 16-man squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka is noticeable for who is not in the team, more so than who has made the final cut.
The selectors have effectively ended the annual merry-go-round surrounding will Glenn Maxwell ever play Test cricket again by omitting the 35-year-old white-ball specialist.
And rightly so, because he has barely played in the first-class arena due to a combination of his involvement in the Australian short-form squads and various T20 leagues around the world.
It would be a tremendous slap in the face to all the Sheffield Shield players if Maxwell had been given a call-up despite several summers of not appearing for Victoria.
Peter Handscomb’s name had also been floated as a potential back-up batter, and he had been called into the SCG last week for a fitness appraisal.
Considered a specialist on turning wickets, picking the 33-year-old for this tour would have been a backwards step.
He has had a few chances to cement a spot in the Australian team, and it is time for fresh blood rather than going back to a player who scored just two tons and five half-centuries in his 20 appearances, most recently on the unsuccessful 2023 Indian tour.
The unorthodox right-hander has cobbled together a decent average of 37.2 but he turns 34 in April, and it’s almost impossible to see him get another look-in.
Handscomb’s omission means Nathan McSweeney is back in – it would have been terrible to turf him out again after mistreating him by putting him in for his debut out of position at opener against the world’s best bowler.
“We still view him as a great Test prospect and a long-term Test prospect,” chief selector George Bailey said at his media conference on Thursday.
Nathan McSweeney is dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
“But at the time of the series, we felt like we needed to throw something a little different at India, given the challenges we were facing from Jasprit Bumrah.
“At times when someone is left out of a team or squad, there’s a view that they fall out of favour or down the pecking order, but that wasn’t the case with Nathan.”
Mitchell Marsh should have also played his last Test for Australia after missing the cut for this tour.
He will probably be around for another few years in the white-ball teams, but after a woeful return with bat and ball in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series and the impressive debut of Tasmanian Beau Webster on top of the expected return of Cameron Green.
Last year’s Allan Border Medallist is another 33-year-old who should put his baggy green cap in storage or on the mantelpiece because it’s hard to see him regaining a spot as the selectors look to bring in fresh blood.
And another player like Maxwell who still held out hope of an unlikely Test call-up is Adam Zampa.
For the soon-to-be 33-year-old leg-spinner, the ship has sailed on ever getting into the Test team.
Zampa has taken the most wickets and played the most games of any Australian cricketer who has not played Test cricket with 201 appearances in ODI and T20 formats since his debut in 2016.
But after his controversial selection in the Sheffield Shield squad for NSW earlier this summer and modest returns in that one-off appearance, it was an easy call to leave him out of this squad for the selectors.
The other notable names not in the touring party are Pat Cummins, who has stayed home for the birth of his second child, and Josh Hazlewood.
Cummins has an ankle injury and Hazlewood needs to get his calf problem right before the Champions Trophy in Pakistan next month. So the time off will do both of them the world of good.
Adam Zampa bowls during the Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Tasmania at Sydney Cricket Ground. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
The decision to hand the captaincy to Steve Smith was not the right choice even though he will do a fine job as leader. Fellow vice-captain Travis Head should have been given the role as a warm-up for his eventual takeover full-time when Cummins retires or calls it quits as captain.
Former Test Opener Ed Cowan on The Grandstand Cricket Podcast even threw up Alex Carey as the only other potential stopgap leadership option to Head.
But as is their modus operandi, the selectors have taken the conservative option and given Smith the gig even though the World Test Championship final spot has been wrapped up.
There is no such thing as a dead rubber in Test Cricket and the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy is on the line as well as Australia’s record of holding every bilateral Test silverware in men’s cricket on top of the WTC crown.
But this would have been the ideal opportunity for Head to earn his stripes as a national captain.
With Marsh’s future unclear, perhaps he should be given the captaincy for the T20 or ODI team after the Champions Trophy campaign if Cummins wants to lessen his hectic workload.
The selectors need to start accelerating their plan for life after Nathan Lyon.
As we saw the last time Australia had a legendary spinner retire, succession planning is key.
When Shane Warne called it quits in 2007, his main two back-ups, Stuart McGill and Brad Hogg, were at the tail end of their careers.
Those two wrist spinners didn’t last much longer before they pulled the pin and the Aussies cycled through a raft of tweakers before the gamble on Lyon after a few first-class matches paid immediate dividends when he was chosen – coincidentally on a tour of Sri Lanka – in 2011.
In his debut at Galle, the venue for these two Tests on the horizon, he snared Kumar Sangekara’s wicket with his first ball before adding a lazy 538 more scalps to his tally.
Todd Murphy. (Photo by John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Between Warne and Lyon, the Aussies used Beau Casson, Cameron White, Jason Krejza, Bryce McGain even though he was all but 37 when he made his debut, Xavier Doherty and Michael Beer before Lyon grabbed the opportunity with both hands, primarily his right index finger.
This time around, the Aussies have laid the groundwork by trialling Mitchell Swepson, Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann in recent years.
Murphy and Kuhnemann have been given the nod for this tour with either spinner or potentially both lining up alongside Lyon at Galle.
Kuhnemann has been impressive at Tasmania this season after switching from Queensland. He is the leading spinner in the Shield ranks with 18 wickets in his six matches at 38 although he has had to toil hard to earn his keep, striking at every 80 deliveries.
Swepson can feel a little hard done by, given that he has taken 17 wickets and gets little benefit playing at home for Queensland.
Murphy has played his role well at Victoria taking 14 wickets in five matches at 31 but he also averages nearly 12 overs per wicket.
The selectors have picked a young Western Australian tweaker for this tour to gain experience but it’s not Corey Rocchiccioli, who many thought might get a call-up after his 14 wickets in the Shield and a spin for Australia A.
Cooper Connolly has been given a plane ticket even though it is highly unlikely that he will see any playing time.
Connolly is just 21 and, at this stage of his career, he appears to be a left-handed version of Maxwell in that he has tended to be more effective in the shorter formats.
Cooper Connolly bats in Mackay for Australia A. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
He has sent down just 16 overs in his four first-class matches and he’s yet to take a wicket but his batting has been very encouraging with 309 runs including three half-centuries, a top score of 90 and a very impressive average of 61.8.
The former Australian under-19 captain is considered a building block for Australia’s future but if he doesn’t go down the Maxwell path of becoming a short-form specialist, he could follow a similar trajectory to Marnus Labuschagne of being seemingly a bits and pieces all-rounder early in his career before concentrating on batting to become a top-order specialist.
Spin wise, even if Connolly does not turn out to be a front-liner, Kuhnemann is still relatively young at 28 while Murphy is a baby in spin years at 24 and Rocchiccioli at 27 will still be in the mix, if his form holds up, to replace Lyon when he either fulfils his retirement dream of bowing out after the 2027 Ashes tour or experiences a sudden drop-off in form and does not make it that far.
The second Lyon scenario is unlikely given that his efforts at Test level have still been outstanding in recent years despite a modest output in the recently completed 3-1 win over India.
Over the past two years Lyon has taken 70 plus wickets at an average of 23 in just 19 matches so as long as he is able to keep his 37-year-old body on the field, the selectors still have plenty of time to sort out which of his understudies will eventually take over as the first-choice spinner.
After this tour to Sri Lanka there are three Tests in the West Indies after the World Test Championship final and given the turning nature of the Caribbean wickets these days, whoever shines in Sri Lanka may get a few bonus matches in June and July.
Aside from that there are not many opportunities between now and the 2027 Ashes for potential spinners to get a whirl as there are no Test tours to the subcontinent on the program between now and then.
Australia’s Test squad for Sri Lanka tour: Steve Smith (capt), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.