The problem of plenty is always a great one to have. Australia is in the middle of one such problem. Where most teams are struggling to find two reliable openers who can get the team off to a rollicking start, Australia, at this T20 World Cup have four – all equally good, equally powerful hitters and in equally good form.
Shane Watson, David Warner, Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja – pick any pair from these four and you have an unbelievable pair of openers and now Steven Smith has to wonder which two to pick. It is the quality of these four openers that one of the best T20 openers, David Warner, has been moved down to the middle order to lend it more explosive power, allowing Usman Khawaja and Shane Watson to open the innings.
However, it still meant Aaron Finch, one of T20’s most consistent batsmen, had to sit out for the match against New Zealand. A look at the individual numbers will show that there is very little to choose between the four flamboyant players.
David Warner
David Warner, although playing in the middle order now, is the world’s third most prolific opener in T20 cricket with 1465 runs at 28.72. He has been Australia’s most consistent T20 batsman with 1601 runs scored at an average of 29.1 and a strike-rate of close to 140.
Warner, who is yet to score a century in T20Is has 151 fours, the most by any Australian and 73 sixers, second only to Watson’s tally. 67 of these have come at the top of the order.
Warner played for Delhi Daredevils before enjoying a highly productive and prolific year in 2015 for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, experience that should help him at the World Cup. Warner has close to 6000 runs in T20 cricket with 5 centuries and 45 half-centuries.
Aaron Finch
In the 2015/16 Big Bash, Finch garnered an impressive 246 runs in 5 innings at close to 50 and a strike-rate of 143. Finch is already Australia’s fourth most prolific T20 scorer with 916 runs at 39.82 to go with a strike-rate of 152.92. That makes his omission a shocker, considering both his average and strike-rate are better than those of Watson and Warner.
For anyone with more than 500 runs in T20 cricket, Glenn Maxwell is the only Australian with a better strike-rate and his average is 18 runs below that of Finch. In terms of opening the innings, Finch is world-class too with 848 runs at 36.86, the strike-rate going to 152.62. He also has a century and five half-centuries as an opener with a high score of 156. Finch has 4235 runs in all T20 cricket at 33.88 with 2 centuries and 29 half-centuries.
Shane Watson
Shane Watson is a great pick for any T20 team considering he is a wily bowler who can contribute with the ball besides being a powerful opener. Watson, with 1379 runs at 28.14 and a strike rate of 144.54, is Australia’s second most prolific run-scorer. He didn’t have a great Big Bash but he has scored runs in the international fixtures since.
He is the eighth most prolific T20 opener in the world with 1151 runs at 33.85 which includes a century and 10 half-centuries demonstrating his class and consistency in the long format. He is also Australia’s highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket with 44 wickets showing his value to the team that extends beyond the willow.
Watson also has 79 sixers in T20 cricket, the most by any Australian batsman, a quality that will be of great use, especially in high-pressure tournaments. Watson’s stint with captaincy playing for Rajasthan Royals makes him a doubly useful bet for a World Cup hosted by India.
His stint gives him an advantage over Finch and Khawaja, the former playing for Pune Warriors, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad but not as extensively as Watson.
Usman Khawaja
On the fringes of the Australian side for a while, Khawaja has hit a purple patch. He has had a phenomenal domestic year. Playing for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash, Khawaja plundered 345 runs at a whopping average of 172.50 and a strike-rate of163. He did this in just 4 innings.
To put things into perspective, he is second on the run-scoring list where everyone else in the Top 10 has at least 8 innings. In four innings, Khawaja scored 2 centuries and 2 half-centuries storming his way into the national squad.
Khawaja’s 39 fours is highest in this year’s Big Bash to go with his 10 sixers. The 29 year old Southpaw has never played the IPL and that is the only factor counting against him. However, he dispelled those doubts by top-scoring in Australia’s eight run loss to New Zealand.
He scored 38 in 27 balls where the second highest is Mitchell Marsh’s 24. A big match player, Khawaja has 1291 runs in T20 cricket at nearly 34 including 2 centuries and 7 half-centuries.
Conclusion
While Steve Smith took the tough decision of dropping Aaron Finch, he is not likely to stick to it for the next match. With Marsh and Watson both capable of bowling four overs, Finch is likely to come in the place of Ashton Agar, a spinner who bowled just one over and went for 18 against New Zealand.
That would strengthen the Australian batting line-up further with Peter Nevill possibly coming in after James Faulkner at No.8. That will be intimidating for the opponents to say the least.
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