I’m back. After three days of losing a few hundred golf balls with some of my oldest friends, I have returned to give you a few hundred words of whimsy around sport. There is something about a golf trip that will make you take stock of life. For me, it was looking around at these faces I’ve known since primary school and thinking ‘these guys really are rusted on’. We live pretty different lives in pretty different places, yet occasionally we get together to be horrible at golf and talk absolute rubbish as we battle for the honour of being the least sh*t at that confounding sport.
You realise, thirty years in, these are your friends. We are stuck with each other.
Increasingly, it can feel that way with the Australian cricket team. Usman Khawaja, Mitch Starc, Josh Hazelwood, Steve Smith, Nathan Lyon. These blokes have been part of our life for a long time and as the Ashes squad was named this week, it was clear that we’ve got them for a little bit longer yet.
Steve Waugh doesn’t like this sense of permanence. The legendary Australian cricketer, who famously had to be crowbarred out of international cricket, told the media this week that selectors needed to instil some youth in the group.
“George Bailey is going to have to make some tough calls and I think in the past he’s shown he hasn’t really had the appetite for that at times,” Waugh said.
“So he’s (Bailey) going to have to step up to the plate with the other selectors because it is a time of transition. The bowlers are in their 30s and some of the batsmen are getting on as well."
Waugh delivered his thoughts the way he batted; sharp, punchy, hard-edged, with eyes narrowed and a sense of authority. When you cast your mind through the fifteen-man squad, it’s hard to find veterans deserving of the axe. Josh Hazelwood and Mitch Starc remain among the best in the world. Nathan Lyon is about to turn 38, but we all remember how the last Ashes went after he pinged a calf. Steve Smith remains world class and Travis Head is all-time Australian cricket aura. Equal parts swagger, aggression and moustache.
You’d suspect Waugh was hinting at Usman Khawaja. ‘Tugga’ mentioned he was sick of players picking the team, which might have been a reference to the opener’s recommendation that Bailey select an all-Queensland top order.
“I’m biased, but a Queensland one, two, three (in the Test team) would be great,” said Khawaja.
If Waugh is indeed sub-tweeting Usman, he might have a point. Khawaja will turn 39 in December and has endured diminishing returns in recent years. An English attack featuring the express speed of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood could make for interesting viewing in pacey Perth as a player past his prime seeks to navigate the new ball.
Anytime you get a new player in the squad that person inevitably becomes the story. Journalists (me included) are always drawn to the New Thing and this week that New Thing was opener Jake Weatherald. The one-time South Australian who has forced his way into the national side via weight of runs in Tasmania. Like your mate who moved to Hobart to start a gin distillery or work at MONA, he’s found a new lease on life off the mainland and is flourishing.
Weatherald won a two-month audition process to partner Khawaja, but what you sense Waugh is driving to is that it might be Usman who could be a sleeper issue for the Australians. The adopted Queenslander remains the people’s champ and fans will be desperate for him to succeed, but if things go south and calls ratchet for generational change, you wonder how much rope the erudite left-hander might receive.
What did you make of the Australian Ashes squad? Like it? Love it? We discussed it with Darren Lehmann, take a listen to the ex-Australia coach and his analysis.
