Sydney: Former Australian batsman Dean Jones believes that there are several spots up for grabs in the Australian team to be led by Steve Smith following the retirements of Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris, Chris Rogers and Shane Watson.
In a syndicated column for the Sydney Morning Herald, Jones who represented Australia for almost a decade at the highest level, some of the young guys taking part in the domestic first class Sheffield Shield have a chance of acquiring an opportunity of a lifetime. He listed Cameron Bancroft, Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb and Joe Burns as having the potential to fill three batting spots in the national squad.
“Head and Handscomb are two players I will be watching most. They are quality players with loads of talent. Handscomb has already made four first-class centuries, while Head has five 90s without a first-class ton. How the selectors rate these boys nobody knows, but trust me they will play Test cricket in the next two years,” Jones said. He said that Australia appears to be yearning for precocious teen talents like Pakistan’s Javed Miandad or India’s Sachin Tendulkar.
Recalling a conversation that he had once with the great Sir Donald Bradman, Jones said that he asked the cricket legend once what he did after he made 334 in England, and Bradman replied that he just went to his room and had a cup of tea and attended to his mail. When Jones told him that if I did that, he would be ostracised from the team, Bradman leant forward and, with a look that would scare any bowler, replied, “What, they are going to drop you after you made 334?”
Australia, Jones said has a good selection and talent identification system, and appears to have zeroed in on young talents such as Jason Sangha, Jake Doran, Hilton Cartwright, Mitchell Swepson, Billy Stanlake, Curtis Patterson, Ben Harper and Seb Gotch for future honours.
