- Pat Cummins and his team in a tense series against India
- A big problem is coming for the national team
A quick look at the Australian cricket team’s ages for the SCG Test against India reveals that there is not a single 20-year-old player, leaving the team facing a savage fall in the likes of Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja and Nathan Lyon. They are all approaching the twilight of their careers.
At 19, Sam Konstas offers youthful exuberance at the top of the order, as evidenced by his series of audacious ramp shots on debut during the Boxing Day Test.
It is telling that Konstas’s batting partner Usman Khawaja is almost twice his age at 37 years old.
Lyon is also 37, while Smith is 35, and pacer Mitchell Starc is 34.
Some of the “younger players” include 30-year-old Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head, while captain Cummins is 31, and even Sydney debutant Beau Webster is 31.
It doesn’t bode well for the future and presents a huge challenge for national coach Andrew McDonald and his staff as they fight to maintain a winning formula.
No member of the Australian team facing India at the SCG is over 20, with players like Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja (pictured) and Nathan Lyon fast approaching the twilight of their international careers.
At 19, Sam Konstas (pictured on debut at the MCG) offers youthful exuberance, unlike his opening batting partner Usman Khawaja, who is almost twice his age at 37.
Steve Smith is an automatic selection for Australia at Test level, but at 35, his time in the baggy green could be coming to an end.
Sydney debutant Beau Webster is 31, and while he has been rewarded with a baggy green after impressive Shield numbers with bat and ball for Tasmania, he is a late bloomer rather than a budding, emerging talent.
It’s not all doom and gloom, however: batsman Nathan McSweeney, who was replaced by Konstas ahead of the Boxing Day Test, is 25 and should return to the team at some point, while injured all-rounder Cameron Green is the same age.
McDonald doesn’t seem too worried about a simultaneous mass exodus, pointing to Australia’s number one Test ranking.
“We’re always looking for evidence for the future,” he said in October after Cricket Australia extended his contract until at least 2027.
‘You’ve seen the changes in white-ball cricket (ODI and T20)… Test matches have been slightly different, we’re really settled.
‘That’s not bad… we are number one in the test classification. “It is also very difficult to change an established team that is working very well.”