🔗 Share this article

You could wonder whether Cricket Australia deliberately prefers to be opaque about team selection or simply has a deficiency in public relations, but yet again, the fitness of players and final team composition must be deduced from the selection in the larger squad for the Brisbane match.

Typically, an identical team list would not be much news, but on this occasion it is, thanks to the anticipated changes involving Pat Cummins and Usman Khawaja, neither of which has now eventuated.

Cummins is the surprise for not being included, with the regular captain and pace spearhead deep into his recovery from early signs of a stress fracture. The only public acknowledgment was a cursory line with the team announcement stating that Cummins is scheduled to go to Brisbane to further his training.”

Suggestions from within CA support the view that everything is on track and his healing is proceeding well, with a likely addition to the team in the near future. Theoretically, Cummins could even join the Brisbane squad in the next few days if he and management so choose. However, the explanations seem inconsistent.

Going back to when his medical tests came back positive in October, starting the clock on his buildup to match fitness, all official statements from the player and timelines from CA indicated he would just be unavailable for the initial match and was set to practice at close to full intensity with the squad in Perth. The head coach remarked, “Cummins will be fit to bowl in Perth, and people will be sitting there questioning why he’s not playing.”

After returning to Sydney following the team’s raucous two-day win, he was seen bowling in the New South Wales nets without any apparent limitations and, most notably, was using a pink Kookaburra ball, what one would assume as readiness for the Brisbane day-night game.

So, why the change of plans, more than four weeks since he indicated requiring four weeks to build up bowling loads, and with six days until the first ball in the Gabba? Not to mention, there are over a week’s break between Brisbane and the third Test. Should he target Adelaide, it will be over two months since he started training again.

This is acceptable: prognoses can change, medical staff can be conservative, players can be cautious. It’s just peculiar is that during the most anticipated and closely followed Test series in the season, the governing body’s representatives seem not to think it necessary to provide updates about the skipper’s condition or the evolving status of either.

If care is the priority with the captain, the opposite applies with the opener’s issue. He had spasms flare up in Perth during brief periods on the field, preventing the regular batsman from playing his role in both innings and from making an impact when he did bat down the order. Even if his symptoms have subsided, the newness of the problem surely leaves some risk that they might recur in the pressure of Brisbane.

With Khawaja in the squad suggests he is set to return to the top order, even though his replacement scored a historic hundred in his place. He wouldn’t be selected as a backup or to bat down the order. Once more, there is no official information about this, just the selection.

This doesn’t mean that sides must reveal a whole XI when announcing selections, and plans can change. However, certain decisions are clearer than others, and considering how Head’s whirlwind drew fan interest, it would cause no issue to clarify where both batsmen are due to bat. Some uncertainty in sports is a good thing, but creating it out of the clearly evident is unnecessary. For those aiming of engaging fans, communication goes a long way.