Sheffield Shield round-up: Openers stall, Smith frustrated, Carey flies

Round two of the Sheffield Shield contained plenty of storylines as jostling continuing for a place in the Test squad while others looked to tune up ahead of facing India. Here’s a recap of the implications for Australia

Openers stall

You may have noticed, but Australia’s specialist openers are not banging down the door. Marcus Harris dug in for two hours at the MCG but was then undone by Mitchell Starc. Cameron Bancroft‘s nightmare start to the season continued and his returns now read 0, 0, 8 and 2 – three times caught behind nibbling outside off then top-edging to fine leg. Matt Renshaw collected 2 and 21 against South Australia. Sam Konstas showed some promising signs in the second innings against Victoria before giving it away against Todd Murphy. It’s hard to know who, if anyone, is leading the race.

Smith’s lean outing

We know he’s moving back to No. 4, but Steven Smith cut a frustrated figure at the MCG. Caught down the leg side off Fergus O’Neill in the first innings he was then less-than-impressed by the lbw decision against Scott Boland although there didn’t seem much wrong with it. “I actually felt pretty good out there, to be honest, for the 3 that I scored,” he said with a hint of a smile after the first innings. It now seems likely that the rest of Smith’s build-up to India will be against the white-ball with a One-Day Cup match against Victoria then the ODI series against Pakistan.

The McSweeney solution

Nathan McSweeney has made an excellent start to the season – scores of 55, 127 not out, 37 and 72 – to build on his success of last summer when runs were hard to come. He is certainly in the mix for Test selection; beyond who opens there will also need to be a spare batter in the squad. Despite the quick abort of Smith opening, there is a world where the selectors again go down the route of non-specialist which could open a space for McSweeney in the XI. He captains Australia A next week against India A.

Keepers flying

Might Australia’s most in-form player heading into the Test summer be their No. 7? Alex Carey is churning out the runs following his successful return to the ODI side in England last month. He has now crunched two centuries and a 90 in four innings this season. Remember, too, he finished the New Zealand series in March with an unbeaten 98. Talk about his form feels a long time ago. But he’s not the only gloveman in fine fettle.

Josh Inglis has played superbly for Western Australia and, like Carey, has two hundreds in two matches. If you were looking at the best six or seven batters on form, he’d be there. There is recent precedent for Australia playing two wicketkeepers in their Test side: Matthew Wade featured alongside Tim Paine from 2019 to 2021, including during India’s last visit when he also opened the batting for two Tests…

Josh Philippe (45 not out and 88) also continued his impressive start to the season on a tricky MCG pitch after the move to New South Wales and Jimmy Peirson (94) led a Queensland fight back against South Australia. Both are in the Australia A squad.

Starc looking good

Now, this looked encouraging. Mitchell Starc hit his straps at the MCG, finding swing at high pace. He could easily have had more than one wicket in the first innings then collected six in the second, although it wasn’t enough to turn things around for NSW. However, he produced some crackerjack deliveries and was gliding smoothly to the crease in his first red-ball outing since March. “Wickets aside, I think the rhythm was there,” Starc said. “I felt probably the best I have felt for a while actually. Across the two innings, it feels like it’s in a good spot.” In the last series at home against India he averaged 40.72 so will hope to improve on those numbers.

The ones we aren’t talking about (much)

It’s easy to forget, given all the chatter, that most of Australia’s squad for the first Test is locked in. It was a relatively lean week for Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne (who is bowling a lot of medium-pace bouncers) although the pair made runs in the opening round. Mitchell Marsh fell cheaply twice against Tasmania and didn’t return to the bowling crease as he had previously suggested he would. Nathan Lyon got through another 41 overs of work against Victoria. In the same game, Boland finished with the fewest wickets of the home side’s quicks (three) but was shaking off the early-season rust nicely. His round-the-wicket spell to Nic Maddinson was classy. His likely challenger as the back-up Test quick, Michael Neser, picked up four wickets against South Australia while Sean Abbott produced a reminder that he should remain in the conversation. Nathan McAndrew may not be a million miles away, either.

What’s next?

Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will feature for NSW in the One-Day Cup match against Victoria on Friday. Then the focus turns to the first Australia A vs India A match in Mackay which begins on October 31 and runs concurrently with the next round of Shield. Konstas, Harris Bancroft and McSweeney are in the Australia A squad as is allrounder Beau Webster. Boland and Neser will also suit up in one of the matches. Of those left in Shield cricket, Renshaw and Maddinson will be in action in Sydney as NSW face Queensland. Lyon is expected to play that game, too, as his last outing before the Test series.