Who is Moises Henriques?

Just like skipper Michael Clarke did in 2004, fellow NSW player, Moises Henriques is set to make his debut in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Chennai. It was a toss-up between Glenn Maxwell and Moises Henriques as to who would debut in Chennai, but despite all the injuries and setbacks, Henriques never gave up the dream or desire to earn himself a baggy green; and so he did. The Portugal born will be the 432^nd player to don the baggy green for Australia.

Henriques made his ODI debut in 2009, but gradually faded out of the international scene with a series of injuries and a waning of form. In the Sheffield Shield season last year, his unbeaten 161 caught the attention of the selectors, and less than five months later, he is making his Test debut. He was picked ahead of Maxwell due to his ability to extracting reverse swing in Indian conditions. Having performed well in the warm-up games, where he had figures of 4/12 – each of the four being scalps of the top order – against the President’s XI, he earned his call-up ahead of Maxwell.

”I knew I had to keep training hard and working hard, I never once doubted it,” Henriques said. ”In those couple of years I didn’t deserve to be in the mix, but I knew if I could get fit that I wasn’t far away.

”I think in the past I have shown some glimpses but my form now has been more consistent with the bat and ball. There has been a lot of injuries and in amongst that there has been some inconsistent form as well. The one thing you lose first is your match touch, but being able to stay on the park the last six months has helped some consistency come into my game.”

He also is accustomed to Indian conditions a tad more than the rest of the Australian squad due to his stints in the IPL for the Delhi Daredevils. Although IPL exposure doesn’t count for much, it is more than what most of the other Australians have. Having said that however, Test cricket will be a different ball game altogether. In 39 first-class matches, he has scored 1745 runs at an average of 30.61; he averages 27.07 with the ball, having picked 78 wickets. Henriques was a part of the NSW Blues squad that won the CLT20 in India in 2009; he was also part of the Sydney Sixers squad that won the Champions League T20 league in South Africa last year, having made useful contributions in both tournaments.

Whether Australia’s gamble of going in with one spinner is brave or foolish, only time will tell, but having a genuine all-rounder like Henriques in the team will surely be an asset, given his adeptness with the bat and ball, as he has proven all this while for New South Wales.

Australia: Ed Cowan, David Warner, Phil Hughes, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke (c), Matthew Wade, Moises Henriques, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon. 12th man: Glenn Maxwell.