Ten under twenty 2019

With the County Championship recently returning for another season, CaughtOutCricket’s back with its fourth edition of “Ten under twenty” – a look at the best young talent in English cricket.

Previous editions: • 2016, • 2017, • 2018

Henry Brookes (Age 19) – Warwickshire

A strong and athletically gifted right-arm fast bowler capable of touching the 90mph barrier, Henry Brookes rose to promise for Warwickshire last summer before a stress-fracture to his back put his fledgling career on hold in mid-July.

By that point, the then 18-year-old had already received a maiden callup to train with the England Lions setup despite having appeared in only six first-class fixtures. Since making his Championship debut in late 2017, he’s captured 21 wickets at 21.38 and looked set to make further strides before his 2018 ending injury.

Also, a capable lower-order batsman – he’s registered two fifties in just eight first-class innings – Brookes has made a huge impression on former Warwickshire sport director, and current England director of cricket Ashley Giles in his so-far nascent career.

The Solihull-born teenager has been with the Midlands county since he was just nine-years-old and recently reaffirmed his commitment to the cause by signing a new contract in December, keeping him at Edgbaston until after the 2021 season.

A former regular with the England U19’s before breaking into the Warwickshire senior setup, he also impressed in both limited-overs formats last summer and looks set for a long and fruitful career for both county and country.

What 2019 holds in store?
Brookes has recently returned to full training and has participated in warm-up matches during Warwickshire’s pre-season tour of Abu Dhabi.

It’s likely that his workload will be managed early season to aid his still-developing body back to full fitness after suffering such a serious back injury.

With former England assistant coach Paul Farbrace replacing Giles as sport director with an emphasis on developing more youth at Edgbaston, Brookes can be expected to make more strides in 2019, especially with Chris Woakes likely to be unavailable for most of the summer and fellow club stalwarts Keith Barker and Chris Wright having recently left for pastures new.

New bowling reinforcements have arrived in the form of Gloucestershire pair Craig Miles and Liam Norwood, while Ollie Stone should shortly return from his own injury issues to bolster the newly promoted side.

But while Division One opponents and pitches will be a step up for Brookes, there’s no reason to believe he won’t continue his rapid rise and work his way back into England Lions consideration during the summer.

Ben Charlesworth (18) – Gloucestershire

A prodigiously talented 18-year-old seam-bowling allrounder, Ben Charlesworth provided a shining light at the end of a disappointing 2018 summer for Gloucestershire.

Taking time out from his A-Level studies at St Edwards School in Oxford, Charlesworth made his first-class bow in August aged just 17. Despite scoring just 1 and 5 and failing to take a wicket on his debut against Warwickshire, it wasn’t long before he began to turn heads in Bristol.

In just his second fixture against Leicestershire, he took the winning wicket with his first delivery of the match and took that confidence into his next match against Middlesex, where he scored a composed first-innings 77 not out and followed it up by taking 3-25 from 13 tight overs with the ball.

In scoring his maiden Championship fifty he became the youngest Gloucestershire player to do so in over 70 years. He soon followed it up with another, when he scored 72 against Glamorgan in Cardiff in another match that his side managed to win.

Although predominantly seen as a bowler first and a batsman second (He batted at seven and eight throughout his six Championship matches for Gloucestershire) It’s his batting that has impressed the most during his blossoming young career.

Following a strong finish to the County season, Charlesworth took his form into the winter with the England U19 side during their tour of Bangladesh.

After making 115 out of a total of 203 in the third YODI he scored 188 runs at 47.00 across the two Youth Tests including first-innings scores of 99 and 63 whilst opening the batting.

What 2019 holds in store?
Having enjoyed a fruitful winter with the England U19’s and also signing a new three-year professional contract with Gloucestershire in October, the future looks bright for Charlesworth.

With Miles and Norwood moving to Warwickshire and fellow seam-bowling allrounder Kieran Noema-Barnett having returned to New Zealand, the first team opportunities are likely to remain for Charlesworth as the summer progresses.

In the meantime, he’ll continue to balance his time between the Gloucestershire First and Second XI’s and his school commitments as shown recently when he skipped the County’s pre-season tour of La Manga to concentrate on his studies.

Jamie Smith (18) – Surrey

A modern-day wicketkeeper batsman with all the strokes, Jamie Smith recently enjoyed a memorable first-class debut for Surrey during their County Champion Match at the ICC Academy in Dubai.

After impressing behind the stumps with a stumping, a catch and a run out, Smith then hit 127 in his maiden first-class knock. Batting at number six, he put on 266 with Ollie Pope for the fifth wicket.

It certainly didn’t go unnoticed that Smith forged such a hefty partnership with Pope – a man he one day hopes to emulate. A fellow wicketkeeper-batsman, Pope made his first-class debut for Surrey in 2017, aged 19 and was representing England at Test cricket just a year later.

Like Pope, Smith is an innovative and attacking batsman capable of playing a variety of diverse innings across the different formats.

Born in Epsom and educated at nearby Whitgift School, he has featured for Surrey since under 10 level and made his T20 debut against fierce rival Middlesex at a packed Lords last summer.

He went onto play a further match against Kent in July before enjoyed success with the England U19 during their winter tour of Bangladesh.

After a pair of low scores in the first Youth Test he relinquished the gloves for the second and scored 90 and 104 batting at number three.

What 2019 holds in store?
With recently jettisoned England wicketkeeper Ben Foakes due to return as the Championship season nears, Smith is certain to again relinquish the gloves and fight for a batting spot in the middle order.

Despite his debut hundred he’s certainly not guaranteed a place in the first XI and it’s likely he’ll be fighting with fellow youngsters Will Jacks and Ryan Patel and new signing Jordan Clark for the final batting spot at number six/seven as the defending County champions retain great strength in depth going into 2019.

However, with injuries and international callups expected throughout the summer, Smith will likely see some first team action across the three formats as well as time representing the Surrey Second XI and club side Sutton CC of the Surrey Premier League.

Liam Trevaskis (19) – Durham

Spinning allrounder Liam Trevaskis shot to fame in a T20 match against Lancashire last August when he took three wickets and defended six runs off the final over to bowl Durham to victory.

Seen largely as a batsman who also bowls some slow left-arm spinners, he’d hitherto taken only one wicket in his prior seven T20 matches leading in, so when he took 4-16 on that Manchester evening it was quite the unexpected coup for Durham.

Carlisle-born and raised in nearby Penrith, the 19-year-old made his T20 and first-class debuts in 2017. However, he’s yet to add to his solitary Championship appearance earned against Worcestershire in September 2017 – despite being named in a several squads throughout 2018.

His spin bowling progressed last summer after having worked with South African legspinner Imran Tahir – who was over representing the Durham Jets in the Vitality Blast and he now has genuine hopes of playing as an allrounder across all formats.

Trevaskis also experienced England U19 honours during the 2017 summer; where he opened the batting in a YODI series against India with reasonable success.

What 2019 holds in store?
With new management at Durham, (Marcus North as Director of Cricket and James Franklin as head coach) Trevaskis could see more first-team action.

He was left out during the recent MCC Universities match against Durham MCCU in favour of the more experienced Ryan Pringle, but he’s likely to rival Pringle for the spinning-allrounder role in the Championship side.

Opportunities for a debut in the Royal London one-day cup are also likely to be forthcoming with Durham kicking off their tournament against Northamptonshire on April 17th.

Perhaps pigeonholed as more of a limited-overs player at this stage of his career, Trevaskis will no doubt look for more openings in the longer format as the summer progresses. In the meantime, he’ll continue to represent the county’s Second XI and South Northumberland CC in the North East Premier League.

Liam Travaskis - Getty — Durham’s Liam Trevaskis when representing the England U19’s in 2017. (Photo Credit: Getty Images).

Ethan Bamber (20) – Middlesex

A right-arm fast bowler who burst onto the County scene last summer, Ethan Barber impressed with 28 wickets at 20.25 for Middlesex spread across his initial six first-class appearances.

The former England U19 standout made his first-class debut against Northants in August and was a mainstay through to the conclusion of the season, taking a career best of 4-81 against Gloucestershire.

The son of two actors (David Bamber and Julia Swift) and a current Theology student at the University of Exeter, Bamber isn’t your usual run-of-the-mill cricketer.

The Westminster-born youngster, who turned 20 in December, was a late starter to the game after his brother, seven years his senior, had taught him in the family garden and he only began taking it more seriously when he first represented Middlesex at U15 level.

Just a few years later he was playing at the U19 World Cup in New Zealand where he finished England’s joint leading wicket taker with eight wickets in four matches at 13.50 apiece.

What 2019 holds in store?
Middlesex are once again stacked in the fast bowling department with onetime England pair Steven Finn and Toby Roland-Jones both fit again after long-term injuries and the evergreen Tim Murtagh still going strong at 37, that’s before mentioning the likes of James Harris, Tom Helm and Martin Andersson who all contributed last summer.

With such bowling options, Middlesex are firm favourites to gain promotion back to Division One. However, Bamber looks certain to be relegated back to the Second XI while he continues his studies.

Although he impressed in the most part during his maiden summer, he also lacked consistency – as to be expected for any young bowler, but his development will certainly be aided by the presence of new bowling coach Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Jack Haynes (18) – Worcestershire

A highly-rated young batsman who Worcestershire have great hopes for to eventually replace another prize batting asset in Joe Clarke who joined Nottinghamshire in the offseason.

The right-handed Haynes – whose father Gavin made 100 first-class appearances for Worcestershire in the 1990’s – made his Worcestershire List-A debut against a touring West Indian A side last June, scoring 33 in a narrow defeat.

Shortly after his debut he signed his first professional contract to stay at New Road until after the 2020 season and has continued to be closely mentored by Academy coach Elliot Wilson.

After making his Second XI debut in 2017, he was given further opportunities to develop in the seconds last summer where he scored a match-winning 131 against Notts in the Second Eleven Trophy.

A former captain of the England U16 side, he made his international U19 debut against South Africa last July playing two Youth Tests and two YODI’s with a top score of 74.

He was then named in the Young Lions training camp during the winter – where he briefly worked with former England batsman Ian Bell at the ECB high performance centre in Loughborough – but didn’t make the 15-man squad that went onto tour Bangladesh.

What 2019 holds in store?
Haynes looks set to complete his studies with Malvern College in Worcester before then joining the club on a fulltime basis later in the summer.

Back in Division Two of the Championship, Worcestershire have re-shuffled the coaching setup with Alex Gidman now in charge of the first-team and Kevin Sharp returning to the seconds.

Sharp, who gave Haynes his Second XI debut in 2017, is again likely to have a positive impact on his fledgling career this summer with the 18-year-old primed for plenty more playing time.

Although Clarke has left and Moeen Ali will be absent for long stretches, it’s unlikely that Haynes will immediately oust experienced campaigners like Callum Ferguson, Rikki Wessels and Brett D’Oliveira from the side. He is though, expected to rival fellow rookies Ollie Westbury, Josh Dell and Alex Milton for some playing time across the three formats.

And with a three-day tour match against Australia pencilled in for early August, expect Haynes to feature. He’s also set to continue playing for Ombersley CC in the Birmingham and District Premier Cricket League throughout the summer.

Adam Finch (18) – Worcestershire

Like Haynes, right-arm fast bowler Adam Finch is another great example of the excellent work done by the Worcestershire Academy in developing their own talent in recent years.

The promising 18-year-old only turned to cricket at 14 when he was asked to make up the numbers in a soft-ball match, just three years later he was representing his country in the 2018 U19 World Cup in New Zealand.

Finch has often been praised by the County’s hierarchy for his fantastic work ethic and willingness to learn as well as the vast improvements he’s made to his tall physique.

Under the tutelage of bowling coach and former Pears seamer Alan Richardson, Finch has recently followed fellow young quicks Ed Barnard, Josh Tongue, Pat Brown, George Scrimshaw and Dillon Pennington into the Worcestershire setup.

He made his England U19 debut against India in 2017 after impressing in his first few outings for the Worcestershire Second XI – where he took 5-19 against Yorkshire seconds.

A regular for the England U19 side since his 2017 debut, he impressed with match figures of 8-69 against his South African counterparts in a Youth Test last summer and also represented the team during their winter tour of Bangladesh.

The next step of his development will be to break into the Worcestershire first XI.

What 2019 holds in store?
Worcestershire have recently signed former South African seamer Wayne Parnell to a Kolpak contract to replace the retiring Steve Magoffin – pushing Finch further down the ranks behind Barnard, Tongue, Brown and the currently injured pair Pennington and captain Joe Leech who are both due to return to bowling soon.

Finch and 21-year-old Scrimshaw – who missed all of 2018 with a stress-fracture – will likely be pushing for a reserve roll alongside Charlie Morris who also remains on the fringes of the first-team squad.

Finch remains very highly thought of at New Road and a first-team debut looks imminent after he was involved in many of the County’s pre-season fixtures.

Tom Lammonby somerset ccc — Somerset’s Tom Lammonby (Photo Credit: Somerset CCC).

Tom Lammonby (18) – Somerset & Devon

Allrounder Tom Lammonby, a left-handed batsman and left-arm fast bowler, has yet to make his Somerset first-team debut, but big things are expected in the West Country.

Despite not yet having represented Somerset, Lammonby, who doesn’t turn 19 until June, has plenty of other cricketing experience to fall back on.

Last summer he scored three consecutive hundreds for Devon CCC in the Minor Counties League – becoming the first player to achieve the feat for Devon, while he also spent time representing the University of Exeter alongside former England U19 teammate Ethan Bamber of Middlesex.

He certainly didn’t have 2018 all his own way though, as a couple of untimely injuries cost him dear on the international front. Firstly, he suffered a broken hand in the nets which ruled him out of England’s U19 World Cup squad in the winter before he injured his heel when due to captain the U19’s against South Africa in July. He did, however return to skipper the side against Bangladesh recently with mixed fortunes.

Born and raised in Devon, he joined the Somerset Academy in 2015 before signing a two-year professional contract in June 2018 and scoring his first Second XI hundred against The Unicorns.

What 2019 holds in store?
Somerset are not averse to giving youth a chance when they believe the timing is right. Recent examples include Dom Bess, Eddie Byrom, George Bartlett and Tom Banton who have all debuted for the County in the past few years.

Lammonby will have to initially bide his time for first-team opportunities in 2019 as fellow youngsters Byrom, Bartlett and Banton and experienced campaigners like Steven Davies, James Hildreth and Tom Abell and Lewis Gregory all remain ahead of him on the depth chart.

He did, however, recently spent time with the first-team squad during their pre-season tour of Abu Dhabi before taking his place back in the Second XI for their friendly game against Gloucestershire. So, a First XI callup might not be out of the question this summer.

In the meanwhile, he will keep looking to represent the England U19 side along with his Second XI commitments and fixtures for Devon CCC and club side Exeter CC of the Devon Cricket League.

Jack Plom (19) – Essex

A right-arm opening bowler of genuine pace, Jack Plom could well become the next bright young thing to graduate from the Essex academy.

The 19-year-old joined the academy at 15 after current England bowling coach Chris Silverwood, then Essex assistant coach, identified him at a local U15 tournament.

Now he’s looking to join the likes of Aaron Beard, Sam Cook and Dan Lawrence who have all impressed at Chelmsford after making their first-team bows in recent summers.

The Basildon-born Plom made his first-class debut against Cambridge MCCU in early 2018 but did not bat or bowl in a weather affected match, however, he’ll be looking for further opportunities in 2019.

After taking 18 wickets in seven Second Eleven Championship fixtures last summer with a best of 6-33, he signed his first professional contract with Essex in October – committing his future to the County Ground until after the 2020 season.

He also impressed while representing the England U19’s against South Africa last summer where he topped the bowling charts in the Youth Test series with 12 wickets at 14.16.

What 2019 holds in store?
Plom looks set for another summer in and around Anthony McGrath’s first-team setup where he’ll relish the opportunity to work with former South African paceman Andre Nel who has joined as assistant and bowling coach.

He was recently involved in the club’s pre-season tour of Abu Dhabi where he played for a Combined XI against Somerset and took three wickets from his 10 overs.

Although, with such depth in the bowling department, he’s got plenty of hard work ahead to immediately dislodge the likes of Jamie Porter, Peter Siddle, Matt Coles, Matt Quinn, Beard, Cook and Paul Walter from the starting Championship XI.

However, with international callups and the inevitable injuries that plague fast bowlers, there are likely to be opportunities for Plom as the summer rides on, especially in the one-day formats.

George Balderson (18) – Lancashire

It wasn’t so long ago that fans of Lancashire and England were salivating over the talents of a young opening batsman by the name of Haseeb Hameed.

Hameed burst onto the scene three years ago and was representing England shortly after, but the weight of expectation and an enormous dip in form saw him average just 9.71 last summer.

So perhaps a more cautionary approach should be taken when championing the skills of another young opener in 18-year-old George Balderson.

The Stockport-born left-hander, who lists Alastair Cook as his cricketing idol, made excellent strides in the academy and Second XI setups last summer where he helped the County win the Second XI T20 competition despite missing several weeks with a hand injury.

After impressing when captaining the North in the ECB Super 4s, he made his England U19 debut against South Africa at Scarborough last July before being selected for the

Young Lions programme over the winter where he went onto play five times against Bangladesh U19s with a top score of 65.

Also, a useful right-arm fast bowler, he signed a two-year professional contract to stay at Old Trafford in December.

What 2019 holds in store?
Balderson was recently involved during Lancashire’s pre-season trip to Dubai where he took 3-37 against a UAE Men’s 1 side and he will officially join Lancashire fulltime at the conclusion of his A-Levels in June.

In the meantime, he’ll look to continue impressing head coach Glen Chapple, assistant Mark Chilton and the Second XI coaches as he looks to plot a pathway into the first-team setup.

That will be no mean feat though as Hameed, Joe Burns, Keaton Jennings, Alex Davies and Rob Jones are all vying for the top three spots and fellow youngster Josh Bohannon impressed in the allrounder’s role at the end of last season.

Balderson will continue to represent club side Hyde CC in the Cheshire County League where he hit 800 runs last summer.

World Cup dilemmas loom on the horizon for Australia

March 17, 2019March 17, 2019Posted in 2019 ICC World Cup, Australia, Australian Sport, Ball-Tampering, Cheating, Cricket, International Cricket, League Cricket, ODI Cricket, State Cricket, UncategorizedTagged Allrounder, Australia, CA, Cricket, England, india, Sport, sports, summer, UAE, world cup1 Comment

India v Australia - ODI Series: Game 4 — Aston Turner put himself in the World Cup mix with a match-winning 43-ball 84 against India. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

When observing Australia’s disastrous ODI form of 2018, it seems hard to believe they entered 2019 as a team hoping to defend the World Cup crown they secured in Melbourne four years ago.

Such was the disarray in their ODI side, that they’d won only two of the 13 matches they played in 2018. But even more concerning was the brand of cricket they were producing. Their 1990’s version of the ODI format looked seriously dated and off the pace when compared to the new heights being set by the likes of England and India.

To make matters worse they even seemed behind more balanced sides like South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies who were all packing more of a punch than Australia. After dominating the one-day scene for much of the 90’s and 2000’s, they have spent the past few years unsure of their ODI identity. This has been summed up by a series of jumbled moves and poor selections designed to find a solution to their prolonged form slump.

Those such moves included the recall of 34-year-old seamer Peter Siddle in January, despite him having not played limited-overs cricket for Australia for almost nine years. His recall was based, like many, on his form in the Big Bash – where he helped Adelaide Strikers win the 2017/18 version of the tournament.

With the domestic one-day tournament shoved into a short window at the beginning of the Australian summer its often the Big Bash that provides Australia with one-day players as it runs parallel to the home ODI’s that traditionally occur throughout January and early February.

Other dubious examples of pigeonholing Big Bash bowling stars into the ODI setup were epitomized by the inclusions of the Adelaide Strikers’ giant quick Billy Stanlake and the death-specialist Andrew Tye of the Perth Scorchers. Both were given brief spells in the side before being displaced alongside the likes of Michael Neser and Ashton Agar.

Likewise, with the batting missing the power of David Warner, the selectors took a punt on a pair of recent Big Bash stars hoping they’d be able to sustain strong opening support for captain Aaron Finch.

D’arcy Short and Chris Lynn were both trialled (for four ODI’s each) as top order hitters expected to exploit the early powerplay overs. When both failed to take their T20 form into the international arena, Australia quickly returned to the more traditional approaches of Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb, as they sort a different means of scoring the runs required to topple the power-hitting nations that now await in ODI cricket.

However, after many had begun writing off their chances of retaining the World Cup at Lords on July 14th, the Australians showed signs of rejuvenation during the recent limited overs victories in India.

First Pat Cummins and then Glenn Maxwell led them to a 2-0 win in the T20I’s, before they came from 0-2 down to win 3-2 in the ODI series – the first time they have ever achieved such a feat. It was also their first ODI series victory in seven attempts dating back to January 2017.

Suddenly a once unbalanced side, shorn of the banned duo Steve Smith and Warner and the injured fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, are beginning to regroup and peak with the World Cup just around the corner.

Led by the batting of Khawaja, and then finished off by the superb bowling of Cummins and Adam Zampa, Finch’s men overcame a fancied home side to win their first ODI series in India since November 2009.

After entering India with a number of question marks over key areas of the side, they now find themselves having to make some tough selection decisions when taking into account the returns of Smith, Warner, Starc and Hazlewood and the fine form shown by Khawaja, Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Jhye Richardson and Nathan Lyon.

And they only have a five-match series against Pakistan in the UAE remaining before they have to announce their preliminary 15-man World Cup squad to the ICC on April 23rd. They will then have a World Cup training camp in Brisbane in early May prior to finalizing the 15-man squad by May 22nd.

With the Pakistan series beginning in Sharjah on Friday; Who’s entering the run-in certain of a place in the World Cup 15 and who’s looking over their shoulder hoping for a final chance to impress?

zampa getty — Adam Zampa has established himself as Australia’s main ODI spinner (Photo Credit: BCCI)

The certainties

Aaron Finch – Despite wrestling with his own batting form recently, Finch has shown great calm and composure as skipper of the side. While his form remains a slight concern – he registered two ducks against India and has just one fifty (93 in Ranchi) in eleven innings since taking over the ODI captaincy in November – he’s a fine player who will no doubt recapture the form that’s seen him hit 11 centuries in 100 ODI innings.

Glenn Maxwell – A vital clog in the Australian limited overs side and someone with undeniable X-factor, Maxwell began the year unsure of his place or role in the side after being shunted down the order to bat as a pure finisher at number 7. But after a recent match-winning T20I hundred in India, he’s impressed further up the ODI order with vital hard-hitting cameos and useful spells with the ball. Add in his terrific fielding and leadership qualities he’s now a sure bet for the WC 15.

David Warner – A key fixture in the side before his 12-month ban, Warner is due to be briefly reintegrated back into the set-up at the beginning of the UAE tour before regaining his fitness with Hyderabad Sunrisers in the IPL. Although he won’t play for Australia before the WC squad announcement on April 23rd, he’s a certain pick for the tournament.

Usman Khawaja – The real winner from the India series. Khawaja – opening the batting – scored his maiden ODI hundred (104) in Ranchi and followed it up with 91 in the record run-chase in Mohali, before rounding out the series with another match winning hundred in Delhi. Although likely to drop down to number three to facilitate the return of Warner, he finally looks a permanent fixture in the ODI side – six years after debuting in the format.

Pat Cummins – One of first names on the team sheet, Cummins continues to go from strength to strength in all forms of cricket, no more so than when he recently topped the wickets tally in the India series with 14 victims at 15.71.

Mitchell Starc – Currently out with a pectoral muscle injury, Starc missed the tour of India and will also miss the Pakistan series after initially being hopeful of recovering in time. But given his recent history and pedigree in ODI cricket, he’s almost guaranteed to return to the XI once he’s back to full fitness.

Adam Zampa – Now the undisputed number one spinner in Australia’s ODI side, Zampa has endured a stop start few years in the national side but has now finally nailed down his spot with his legspin trailing only Cummins in India with 11 wickets as he both attacked and defended when required.

The very likely

Peter Handscomb – Scored a maiden ODI hundred (117) in the successful fourth ODI run-chase, before scoring an equally important 52 in the decider. Freshly dropped from the Test side, Handscomb was a leftfield pick when recalled to the ODI side to play India in January after a one-and-a-half-year hiatus from the limited over set-up. An excellent player of spin and a useful backup wicketkeeping option, he looks likely to battle with Smith for a place in the XI.

Alex Carey – After establishing himself as the number one limited-overs gloveman ahead of Tim Paine last year, Carey has generally batted down the order at six and seven but also opened, with little success, against India in January. A fine glovesman and good late innings finisher, he’s likely to begin the WC behind the stumps, although a spell of poor form could see Handscomb take over the gloves.

Marcus Stoinis – After starting the India series in good touch, Stoinis suffered a broken thumb, leading the way for fellow Western Australian Turner to come into the side and perform heroics. Capable of hard hitting towards the end of the innings but has been criticized for heaping pressure on the run-rate by playing out too many dot balls. Can also perform a solid role as the side’s fifth bowling option as seen when he recently dismissed Virat Kohli. Has taken over the allrounder role fulltime from previous incumbent Mitchell Marsh.

Steve Smith – Like Warner, Smith has been nursing an elbow injury in recent times, putting his planned comeback in doubt. After a brief reintegration back into the national setup, his next involvement in top level cricket is due to be the IPL with Rajasthan Royals where he will need to prove his fitness and form before the squad announcement. There is a thought that he could be left alone until the Ashes, given his importance to the Test side.

Josh Hazlewood – Still recovering from a stress-fracture of the back he suffered against India in January, Hazlewood is on a race against time to put himself firmly back in the WC reckoning. Having taken 72 wickets in 44 matches and established himself as a key figure in the ODI setup, he’s likely to be given every chance to fully recover from the injury and earn a place in the WC 15 even though he won’t play any cricket before May. His inclusion in the squad is likely to be determined by his ability to play in the warm-up matches.

Jhye Richardson – A fine tour of India in which he took eight wickets in three matches has likely elevated Richardson ahead of the likes of Coulter-Nile and Behrendorff in the pecking order. Still only 22 and fairly raw, he looks to have a bright future across formats for Australia having also made his Test debut in January deputising for the injured Hazlewood. If the latter fails to recover from his aforementioned injury then Richardson could also find himself in the WC starting XI.

****

The uncertainties

Ashton Turner – Brought into the squad for his abilities to hit a long ball and his excellent running between the wickets, Turner was drafted into the starting XI in India due to Stoinis’ misfortune and made the most of his chance scoring a magnificent unbeaten 43-ball 84 to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat in the four ODI. He will have the Pakistan series and then the IPL to prove he is worthy of a place in the WC 15. He can also bowl useful offspin and is excellent in the field.

Shaun Marsh – A big favourite of Justin Langer and a shining light during a poor 2018 for Australia, he’s scored four ODI hundreds in the past year against strong opposition (2 x England, South Africa and India) but his recent dry spell in India (scores of 16, 7 and 6) after he missed the series opener due to the birth of his second child, have tied in with similar players like Handscomb and Khawaja having timely success meaning Marsh’s spot suddenly looks vulnerable. Was left out for the series decider against India after Stoinis recovered from his thumb injury.

Nathan Lyon – Behind Zampa in the spinning ranks, Lyon is only likely to make the WC squad if Finch and the selectors decide they want to play two spinners during the tournament. He impressed bowling in tandem with Zampa in India where he offered his side much needed control during the middle overs.

Nathan Coulter-Nile – Played the first two India ODI’s before sitting out the remaining matches when Richardson came into the side. Capable of hitting a long ball down the order, his recent injury record could well count against him when Australia decide on their final 15.

Jason Behrendorff – Another injury-prone Western Australian quick, the left-armer originally came into the side after impressing in a handful of T20I matches and has let no one down without yet taking the hatful of wickets to fully cement his place in the WC 15. His left-arm angle and ability to swing the new ball are certainly in his favour but with Starc due to return soon, might he become redundant?

****

On the outside looking in

D’Arcy Short – A regular T20 performer, Short was recently called into the ODI squad to cover for Marsh who briefly went home on paternity leave. However, he failed to feature in any of the games and was already back playing in the Sheffield Shield before the tour finished.

Travis Head – A veteran of 42 ODI’s, Head was dropped in January after an underwhelming two-year spell in the side, where he scored one hundred and 10 fifties batting throughout the top and middle order. He remains unlikely to be re-visited before the WC.

Kane Richardson – The South Australian has played only 18 ODI’s in six years and is likely to remain on the outside unless a couple of the other fast bowlers are stricken down with injury. The leading wicket taker in this year’s Big Bash, he was called up for the India and Pakistan series when Starc was ruled out.