{"id":25317,"date":"2021-01-21T21:31:57","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T22:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=25317"},"modified":"2021-01-22T02:00:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T02:00:05","slug":"australias-massive-money-spinning-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=25317","title":{"rendered":"Australia's massive money-spinning problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

The seemingly never-ending Big Bash League is a major hindrance to the performance of the Australian Test side, according to former captain Ian Chappell.<\/a><\/p>\n

This summer's tournament started on December 10 and runs through until February 6. With extra time allowed this season to give players a break from hubs, the Sheffield Shield season has been put on hold for three months, at exactly the same time as the Test side is in action.<\/p>\n

It means there's no chance to assess players in the red-ball form of the game should they be required. Matthew Wade's hold on the number five batting spot seems tenuous<\/a>, but with no first-class cricket being played, possible replacements have a hard time mounting a case for selection.<\/p>\n

Opening batsman Marcus Harris was included for the Brisbane Test<\/a>, having not played since an Australia A match a month earlier.<\/p>\n

"It's so bloody hard at the moment," Chappell told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"The BBL, it just gets in the way, seriously. Sure, it might be a money-spinner, but there's got to be a balance between the money-spinner and what it's producing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"It's more than 50 days out of the schedule, and it's right in the middle of the Test season.<\/p>\n

"So, where the hell do you go looking for the replacement batsmen?"<\/p>\n

The performance of the Australian team is under renewed scrutiny, following the 2-1 series loss to an under-strength Indian side.<\/p>\n

Should Australia's tour of South Africa go ahead in late-February as seems likely, selectors will have to rely on Sheffield Shield form from November if they want to bring in new blood.<\/p>\n

"If you've decided you need to make a change for South Africa, what are you picking the new batsman on? A wing and a prayer," Chappell lamented.<\/p>\n

"They may well decide to go back to Travis Head instead of Wade at number five, but against that South African attack, Rabada, Nortje and Ngidi, that's a decent attack and the sort of attack that will trouble the hell out of Travis Head.<\/p>\n

"But I'm not sure where else they can go."<\/p>\n

\"Travis<\/p>\n

Chappell noted that it was fortunate the side was relatively settled.<\/p>\n

"In my opinion there's only one place up for grabs at the moment, that's number five in the order," he declared.<\/p>\n

"Will Pucovski and Cameron Green are still in the potential stage, but it's bloody good potential, and you're not going to change the rest of the team.<\/p>\n

"You might rest a bowler if they're a bit weary, and there's some good replacements next in line, but the best 10 is pretty clear.<\/p>\n

"I've always thought you want six guys who can win you a Test, and the others contribute around them. So, if you've got a settled 10, you should be able to find six match-winners out of that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The former skipper cautioned against going back to a discarded veteran, such as Usman Khawaja, should selectors decide to move on from Wade.<\/p>\n

"Ideally, you'd like to have four experienced batsmen, and Pucovski and Green as the up-and-comers, but if your fourth experienced guy is going to be someone who has been tried in the past and hasn't really made it, then I'd be happy with a three-three split between experience and potential.<\/p>\n

"You could get away with that because the bowling attack is very experienced, so that balances it a bit.<\/p>\n

"We just have to find the next guy with potential who's in form, which is hard at the moment without Shield cricket."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The seemingly never-ending Big Bash League is a major hindrance to the performance of the Australian Test side, according to former captain Ian Chappell. This […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25317"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25319,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25317\/revisions\/25319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}