Score big in first-class cricket and earn the baggy green, says Tim Paine

Paine is worried about Australia's batting ahead of the home Test summer, starting with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy versus India.

Paine also looked back at the disappointing 2-match Test series in UAE | Getty

Skipper Tim Paine says that whoever scores big runs in the next two or three rounds of the ongoing season of Australia's premier domestic first-class competition - Sheffield Shield, will be considered for the upcoming home Test summer, starting with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy versus India. 

"What's clear is the next two or three rounds of Shield cricket are super important for everyone – both the guys who were on the Test tour (in the UAE) and guys who were here playing Shield cricket," Paine was quoted saying on cricket.com.au, "If you can make a case by scoring a lot of runs, a Baggy Green is seriously within reach."

"Marcus Harris scored a big double hundred (against New South Wales); that's the kind of thing that will certainly get the attention of Justin Langer and Trevor Hohns," he further emphasized, "Anyone who's scoring double hundreds at the top of the order in Shield cricket is going to be right amongst it. He's one of a few guys who's certainly put his hand up in the opening few rounds."

With only Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja performing well during the 1-0 defeat against Pakistan in UAE, Australian Cricket is in a bit of panic mode as far as the batting is concerned, with head coach Justin Langer declaring that most spots in the top six remain "very open" before the first Test against India, that begins December 6 at Adelaide. 

Paine further reflected on the issue and stated, "There's no doubt this (collapses) has been happening for too long for the Australian cricket team, not just our Test team but probably domestically there's a lot of collapses throughout our batting group and I think a lot of it can be technical." 

"(For) some guys (it'll) will be mental and other guys will be tactical, or your plans not being right for certain bowlers," he added, "There's no shying away from the fact we have a hell of a lot to do on our batting and it's this team and it's through the whole country." 

"We've been pretty clear that if you're scoring enough runs, anyone's a chance at the moment," and signed off. 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 30 Oct, 2018

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