My batting order:
1. Hayden
2. Hussey
3. Ponting
4. Katich
5. Symonds
6. Clarke
7. Gilchrist
8. Warne
9. Lee
10. MacGill
11. McGrath
Hayden, Ponting, Gilchrist, Warne, Lee and McGrath pick themselves.
Hussey more than deserves a second chance after his poor showing in the last test. He has averaged 53 at first-class level over a career spanning 177 matches. He is 30 years old and will most probably come into the team full-time when Langer and Hayden retire in the next two years. Hussey is already 30 years old, however the lack of up-and-coming opening batsmen in Australia mean he will probably become a permanent fixture at international level. His medium-pacers will also be valuable in this test due to Watson's injury.
Phil Jaques was also strongly considered, being just 26 years of age and averaging 56, but Hussey's consistency and experience give him the advantage. Hussey needs to be blooded now if he is going to break into the international arena, whereas Jaques has time on his side. One would assume Jaques will come straight into the side once Hayden and Langer retire.
Katich is skating on thin ice. He is going through a rough patch and needs to deliver soon. Numbers five and six are too low for him, as he is most comfortable at first-class level when opening, first drop or number four. An elevation up the order would allow him to play his natural game which he has succeeded with time and time again in the Pura Cup.
Symonds deserves a go, surely. His first-class batting record over the last few seasons has been superb, and this season he is averaging 78.75, including two half-centuries against the West Indies team and a huge 163 in a total of 342 against Soth Australia earlier this week. His one-day record speaks for itself, and he has not really had great opportunities in the test arena. His bowling has come on in leaps and bounds. In the Pura Cup this season he is averaging 16.5 with the ball with a strike rate of 55 and an economy rate of 1.8 runs per over. Of his fifty-five overs this season, twenty-seven of them have been maidens. At the moment he offers more in the bowling department than Shane Watson, and his inclusion allows the selection of a second spinner. Not to mention he's the best fielder in the country...
Clarke should be batting at six and needs to mature as a batsman. He is very young, and will be a mainstay of the batting line-up over the next decade. Dropping him will just make him go backwards, especially when he has performed so well at state and club level over the last year. He's too good for Pura Cup, and if he stays in the national team, eventually the message will get through and he will start to guard his wicket. Like it or not, Clarke will be in the team for a long time, and along with Phil Jaques and David Hussey, he is one of the only established Australian state batsmen at state level under the age of 30. He has to come through, for the good of the nation's cricketing future.
If MacGill isn't selected it's a travesty. Sure, Bracken got a four-fa' last innings, and career best figures. But how many times has MacGill got a four-fa' in his test career? Eight. He also has eleven five-fa's, and two ten-wicket match hauls. All in just thirty-four tests. MacGill's strike rate is 52.5 balls per wicket. Compare that to other world-class spinners in Muralitharan(56.7), Warne(57.3), Kaneria(60.1), Singh(62.1), Kumble(65.9) and Vettori(77.8), and this is the best strike rate for spin bowlers in test cricket today. MacGill also has the third best average of these bowlers.
The recent match against the World side in which MacGill got match figures of 9/83 and outplayed Warne show his class.
MacGill's past performances should mean instant selection in the side.
If only Macgill had been born ten years later, he would have been Australia's first-choice spinner and enjoyed a long and fruitful international career.
