Pecking Order For Australia's Opener., Socceroos Vs Japan, Callers Having Their Say
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Mornings with Matt White
Matt's Opener 15/10/24
Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the program on this Tuesday morning, the 15th of October. Thanks for joining me on 11.70 a.m. in Sydney, wherever you are tuned in across the SCN app. Hit me up on the all-tail open line this morning. I'm going to need your help. I'll tell you why in just a sec. But all-tail is your business outsourcing partner 1.300 O1.11.70. Nothing bad. Just going to need your help. That's what we do here over the next three hours. So what's ahead of us? The countdown to the Pacific Championships. Actually just trying to get confirmation. I heard the boys talking about that there. Is it Teamless Tuesday? We're hoping for the team. So we'll get confirmation on that and when that is going to come our way. But maybe one of our special guests today can help us. Ruben Cotta is going to join me on the show. So what does this team look like? How's the camp going? The first match, of course, at Suncorp Stadium in Brizzy against Tonga and the spine. What does it look like? Harry Grant starts at Hooker, Dylan Edwards. You'd think obviously starting there and fall back and then watch your halves pairing. I like the idea of Burton and Moses there. No problems at all. So we'll get to the bottom of that throughout the course of the show and looking forward to having a chat with Ruben Cotta. More on that in just a sec. We are in the slipstream of Bathurst. We are still in the slipstream of Bathurst. Now we had a great conversation about this yesterday. And I had James Moffatt on my program finish fourth with Cam Waters. Today, Nick Percat will join us. Their day didn't go as planned. They finished midfield at the end of a 10th with Dylan O'Keefe. It was a little bit further down I think. It was, sorry, it was 17th with Dylan O'Keefe for Nick Percat. Gold Coast is coming up next. So we'll have a chat with Nick about the back end of the season. Thanks to Ben Dix Racing and everything else that's going on. And of course we've got football tonight. Daniel Garb will be on the line. And Scotty Bailey will join us from AAP Sports. And Scott reckons 99% sure that the team line outs come out today at 4 o'clock. There you go. We asked the question. We get the answer. So a couple of things in the slipstream of Bathurst. And one of them is, did we miss anything else across the weekend? We had such a great back and forth yesterday about how Bathurst panned out, whether or not it was boring. I put my comments here on this program and also on our website as well and on our digital. There were parts of that race that were absolutely boring. But there were also circumstances that led to that. And one of the things is you've got to remember there was no weather. There was no weather at all to bother them across the course of the day. Unlike what's been happening in Sydney where there's weather everywhere at the moment. So in the wash of that, did we miss anything else across the weekend? Maybe it was in your own backyard. You can let me know. A little bit of community sport here. Let's do that this morning stuff. We missed. Now on Bathurst. So I love doing the call here on Sunday. No problems. I've done plenty of calls and it's a long race. It's a six out, well it was five hours, 58 minutes. It's a six hour race and it was an eight hour broadcast and you were up the whole time. Now yesterday, I was still in this slipstream of Bathurst having a rocking old time. Felt good. Didn't feel like I had that Bathurst sort of haze or hangover. Guess what folks? Hit the wall this morning. Hit the wall this morning. I'm up for the next three hours but you're going to have to help me. So what can we do? I've had a coffee. I've had a double shot but that's regulation and that's early. I just have one in the morning and away we go. I've been working all morning. So no change to the routine but I just feel like it's just been boom, boom, so give me a hand. Maybe Ruben Cotter can give me a hand in going the distance. So he played in the end. It was 23 games in total for this season for the Cowboys and of course they exited at the semi-final stage. He played all three state of origins. So he's had less than a month since his last game of footy. That was the 20th of September. We're now at the 15th of October and on Friday he'll be back into it. So going the distance for me after just commentating for a day and then feeling like I need to back up again and again and again. I'm up for it. That blokes been battered and bruised and smashed and training and everything else that's gone with it and he's going to line up with an Australian jumper on. We are 289 days into the year. Means there's 77 days remaining. How do we get to the end? Come on. O 4 5 7 7 3 6 7 3 6. Give me a hand this morning. Let's do a little bit of a pick me up and what your secrets to success are and going the distance. One of the big questions of course. Now this gained even more traction yesterday when I brought you the news that Cameron Green's out for the summer. Going to have surgery on his back. So who opens the batting with Aussie for Australia? The Indian test series. There's still time. There's five weeks to go until it begins. So the first test November 22nd Perth Stadium and then we roll into Adelaide, the Gabba, the MCG and of course when we get to January we'll be at the SCG. So what happens in between now and then and I really want you to narrow it down to me this morning for one name. There are four if not maybe five in the mix and there's still a little bit of time to go. So in between now and then Sheffield Shield continues the Australia A series against India. So the Australia A squad named yesterday over the next month will be absolutely crucial. So we've got Cameron Bancroft. We've got Marcus Harris. We've got Sam Constis to an extent. We've got Matt Renshaw and also to an extent. We've got Nick Madison, but you would have to think that it's between two possibly three. The two Bancroft and Harris, the third Constis. The question about Sam and we had Greg ship it on the program yesterday and he said this guy is special. There's no doubt about it. He's a special talent. So two centuries against South Australia. He's 19 years of age. He's got a game sorted, but he's 19 years of age and he's only played five first class matches up until this stage. He's earned the call up for the Australia A series and sometimes you've got to go with who's hot and Sam Constis is hot at the moment. So they asked you to score runs, you go out and score runs and now you're in the picture. Are they going to take that kind of level? It's not risk. It's more the fact that they've got time to think and time to look at other options. Do you throw young Sam into the furnace or do you go somewhere else? If they go somewhere else, Cameron Bancroft I think has to be the destination next, albeit the fact that he recorded a pair, two ducks in the Sheffield Shield match against Queensland in Perth. So whilst Camp Bancroft gets two ducks, Sam gets two centuries and on that alone you'd have to say, "Well, hang on a second. You asked us to get runs." Well, they're not too worried about those two ducks. In fact, George Bailey joked with Cameron Bancroft that if he wasn't in such good Nick, he probably would have missed him. So Cameron Bancroft to me is the compelling argument at the moment. He's 31 years of age. He's been there before we know. 10 tests between 2017 and 19, but it's his consistency at Sheffield Shield level over the past two years. He's averaged 54 on the knocker. In fact, 54.0 during the past previous two summers, 1,728 months. So Camp Bancroft been there before. He's delivered before. He's delivered since and he has to be you reckon at the top of the pecking order. Marcus Harris, pretty much the same age. He's 32 years of age. Hasn't played test cricket in nearly three years. However, he's been in and around this squad was the reserve batter during the home summer series and the ashes tour of England as well. He's been given a national contract. So they've got their eggs in the Marcus Harris basket anyway. 143 and 52 for his start to the Shield season against Tazzy. And there have been plenty of opportunities, however, to prove he's worth there at test level. No hundreds in 14 matches and an average of 25.29. So the numbers tell you part of the story and in batting currency numbers or everything, obviously. So they should tell you most of the story. But if we've got a pecking order in my view, it's Bancroft first, Harris second and Constis with a rocket third. Where does that leave Matt Renshaw? What leaves him out of the Australia A series, which is kind of the form guide for Matt Renshaw. He's still only 28 years of age. He came into the test side a decade ago and came in with a flurry of runs. But however, since then, it's just been matches here and there. And the Sheffield Shield form hasn't been good. So he's been left out of the Australia A squad. So we put him further down the list. And then there's Nick Madison has played for Australia three tests for Australia way back in 2016 back in New South Wales, not named in Australia, but is a massive long shot. So the preference appears there to be Bancroft or Harris, the proven performance and Steve Smith gets to go back to number four. Mitchell Marsh will be, you would think, the person who steps up to ease the pressure on the bowling situation, because green doesn't just take out the top part of the equation. With Smith moving back to four, there's a hole they need to fill in the middle. Give me your thoughts on that. O four, five, seven, seven, three, six, seven, three, six is the text line number, a 1,301, 1170. And then there's the ODI squad, which was announced yesterday, 14 man squad, three ODI's against Pakistan. November 4th is the first in Melbourne. Then we go to Adelaide and Perth. So more about probably who was left out again, and also one who was returning. So no Cameron Green, obviously. Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head both won't be part of this three match series, they'll be on paternity leave. Marcus Stoyness comes back in and Jake Fraser McGurk and Cooper Connolly are in the team. Alex Carey, our most consistent batter from the recent white ball tour has been dropped. Josh Inglis will have the keeping duties there. So in a heartbeat, we focus on the ins and outs and who's doing what and who needs what to get into the Australian either test team or ODI team for the summer ahead. How good is it? 1301, 1170 is our open line number. Do you want to blood a youngster like Sam Constis? Do you want to pair him up with Uzi or for an Indian series out here and five tests ahead of us? Do you go for a bit of tried and tested in Bancroft or Harris? Or have you got someone else? Let me know. You know my order of appearance. Australia V Japan tonight at 930. So the Socaroos in action and histories against them. Everybody knows we've never beaten Japan in Japan. And this team has won 20 of its past 22 matches at home. So as a draw, considered a great result here by the experts. Yes, a win would be astronomical and three points would be huge for Australia's hopes of direct qualification. So what happens this time around as Tony Popovich and the new era at the Socaroos camp got enough there to change history. It would be absolutely enormous. Australia last beat the Samurai Blue back in 2009. And that was at the MCG. So an entirely different scenario to play them at home over there. And we will have a chat with Daniel Garb on that one. As I mentioned, Ruben Cott is going to join us on the show as well. Scotty Bailey and Nick Percat will keep us across all of the rugby league news in particular with Scotty and Cricket. And we'll get Nick's thoughts off the back of Bathurst on the weekend. 1-300-O-111-70 is my open line. Number 17 past nine. Let's start with your calls. Phil. G'day Phil. Hello, mate. I'm good, mate. Let's talk cricket. What do you think? Mate, I think the forgotten one in terms of the all-rounder could be Michael Messer. It's got a record with that at shield level. Yeah, his name's absolutely been floated in the mix there for that all-rounder position. So it's an interesting one. And you're right, Phil, about what Michael can do with the bat. And we know what he can also bring with the ball as well. So his is an interesting spot, I reckon, because they need an opener now. They're going to go for a specialist opener. We know that. So that's at the top of the tree. And then what do they do further down? And I guess it all comes down to, I mean, you tell me if you agree, I guess it all comes down to how much they want to look at Mitchell Marsh and how valuable they see Mitchell Marsh in that role as opposed to a Michael Messer. Well, maybe they could do what they do in the short form of the game and push Marsh off the order. And Nessus also, there's a support with the ball. And that keeps our bowling stock strong. But we've also got to look forward to the ashes down the track as well. And Harrison Bancroft's their form against England in a prior series, how that comes in. So do we give Constance a go at the top and let him have his shot? Yeah. Well, I wanted to ask you what do you think about that? I mean, it comes down to that classic question fill of, do you want to go with youth, but with youth comes in experience. But this guy's a talent. We know that. And he's got runs on the board already. So we know that you go that way for a series. Do you kind of bite the bullet? Do you reckon hoping that he's going to be there long term? Or do you go with somebody who's more experienced? No, absolutely. I think we need to start flooding the new talent that we've got coming through and give some of the young guys hope and stuff to strive for. I mean, a few of these guys have had their go and they keep getting their go. And that's just going to deter the young fellers playing shield. But if we give a young guy a shot, then that gives hope and aspiration to the rest of them to strive for it. I reckon. Yep. Well said. Well said. I think it's really I don't. Sorry, I don't know if they're going to go that way. I mean, we don't know what they're thinking. Of course. And they select, they will select a squad and then Pat Cummins and Andrew McDonald will will make up the batting order. But Steve Smith's had that chat with Captain and coach to say, I want to go back down the order. He sort of took a hit for the team almost. And it kind of worked. But he wants to go back down. So it's a really interesting one. I guess the other part of the equation. Thanks, Phil. Appreciate that man. I guess the other part of the equation is remember who's at the other end here? Usman Koaj is at the other end. So if you are going to blood a youngster, gee, it's good to have somebody at the other end like Uzi, isn't it? To look up and have that experience there and that steady hand there. And everything that he's achieved in the game and knows how to handle pretty much every situation. So it's a fascinating scenario that they're in. Do they bite the bullet? I just don't know if they're going to. I would love to see them bite the bullet and take Sam Constis straight up. Because from those that I speak to in the game, this guy is the real deal. But there's plenty of time. There's plenty of time for him to make his mark and make his move. So this is the ultimate balance that you've got to try and play when you're selectors, when you coaches, when you captains, all the advisors, everything. But it appears that everything is in order for the game at the moment. For Sam, is it in order enough to step into the test arena for the border Gavaskar Trophy series? That's the one that only the experts will know how to answer 1-300-01-1170 is our open line number. I'm getting some good feedback here on how we punch through this morning. How we go the distance. I love your feedback. Back