SYDNEY, Oct 23: Following Australia’s abysmal loss to New Zealand in their opening ICC T20 World Cup Super 12 (Group 1) game in Sydney on Saturday, former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull has insisted Test skipper and pace bowler Pat Cummins should not be playing T20s in the first place, adding Kane Richardson should have been in Aaron Finch’s side for the tournament.
Cummins could hardly make an impact against New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground being clobbered for 46 runs in his quota of four overs as the trans-Tasman rivals smashed 200 and then restricted the defending champions to 111 to complete an 89-run rout.
Doull, the former Black Caps right-arm pace bowler who played 32 Tests and 42 ODIs, indicated Cricket Australia (CA) had got their T20 World Cup selection all wrong when he said, Australia “would be concerned” following the massive loss.
The defending champions led by Finch could take just three New Zealand wickets, though they had bowling stalwarts likes Josh Hazlewood, Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa in the line-up. Both Starc and Cummins went wicketless.
“I think Australia would be concerned, I’d be concerned with some of the parts of the bowling,” Doull said on the Digital Daily in the aftermath of Australia’s loss.
“I said the other night in the warm-up match, I feel personally that Pat Cummins shouldn’t be playing in this T20 side.
“I think (right-arm quick) Kane Richardson should be playing. I feel that he offers them a few variations that they just don’t have. It’s same-same. It’s pace on, pace on, pace on. Starc, (Josh) Hazlewood, Cummins — they don’t have a really good change-up bowler.
“We saw from Tim Southee tonight (Saturday) with some of those change-ups that that certainly played a part from New Zealand’s point of view. So I feel that Richardson should be in the side (though) it’s a big call though to drop.”
Australia’s massive defeat has put them at a huge disadvantage in terms of net run rate (NRR) , and Doull believes the drubbing is a double loss of sorts, knowing the side could have a huge NRR backlog when the race to the semifinal gets intense. (IANS)
