🔗 Share this article

You could wonder whether Cricket Australia intentionally chooses to be unclear about team selection or simply has a deficiency in communications, but yet again, the fitness of players and final team composition must be inferred from the selection in the larger squad for the Brisbane match.

Normally, an unchanged squad would not attract attention, but on this occasion it is, due to the anticipated changes involving both key players, none of which has now eventuated.

The unexpected element is Cummins for not being included, with the regular captain and fast-bowling leader deep into his recovery from initial symptoms of a back injury. 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 recovery remains happily on track, 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, something the claims doesn’t add up.

Going back to when Cummins’ scans were cleared in October, starting the clock on his return to play, all public commentary from the bowler himself and board schedules indicated he would only narrowly miss the initial match and was scheduled to train at nearly full tilt with the team during the match. Coach Andrew McDonald said, “He will be up and bowling in Perth, and people will be sitting there questioning why he’s not playing.”

Once Cummins got back to Sydney following the victory in the west, he was seen bowling in the New South Wales nets without any visible restrictions and, most notably, was using a pink Kookaburra ball, presumably as preparation for the day-night Test.

What prompted the shift, more than four weeks since he indicated requiring a month to prepare his workload, and with less than a week to go in Brisbane? Not to mention, there are over a week’s break between Brisbane and the third Test. If the latter is Cummins’ destination, it will be over two months since he started training again.

That in itself is fine: medical opinions evolve, medical staff can be conservative, athletes might take care. It’s just peculiar is that during the most anticipated and closely followed Test series in Australia’s calendar, the governing body’s representatives don’t appear to consider it reasonable to share updates about the skipper’s condition or the evolving status of either.

If care is the priority with Cummins, the reverse is true with the opener’s issue. He had muscle spasms in Perth during brief periods on the field, preventing the regular batsman from doing so in the match and from having any influence when he did bat down the order. Even if his symptoms have subsided, the fact he’d not experienced them before surely leaves some risk that they might recur in the pressure of Brisbane.

With Khawaja in the squad logically means he is due to resume opening the batting, even though Travis Head made a record-setting century in his place. Khawaja wouldn’t be picked as a reserve or to play lower. Once more, there is no official information about this, only the squad listing.

It isn’t necessary that teams should have to give a full lineup when picking their squad, and strategies may shift. However, certain decisions are clearer than others, and given the way Head’s whirlwind captured public attention, it would cause no issue to confirm where both batsmen are slotted to play. A bit of mystery in sports is a good thing, but creating it out of the broadly obvious is needless. For those aiming of winning over audiences, transparency is crucial.