TOPIC:

Some tricky questions for the Australian selectors to ponder in relation to the return of Steve Smith, Dave Warner and Cam Bancroft to the national team in some format. Of course there are now more complexities with the news that Smith is going to be out for an extended period of time with an injury. It is touch and go whether Smith will be ready to play when his ban expires in late March and the final squad for the world cup is due to be announced on the 23rd April so I am now wondering whether he has enough time to prove his fitness prior to the announcement of that squad and it may be better for him long term to focus on his form in first class cricket with the aim of being cherry ripe for the ashes in July.

Would it perhaps be better for him to do a short stint in English county cricket while the world cup is on to build up his form and fitness for the ashes series?

Bancroft has 4 Sheffield Shield matches in February/March and a couple of big scores could see him earmarked to be Harris's opening partner in the England tests. I doubt if Cam would be in the selectors thoughts for a world cup spot but then again the way he hit them the other night......

Warner is an interesting one. Without doubt he is still in the top 6 batsmen in Australia in both test and 50 over formats but you get the feeling that the decision as to whether he gets picked or not will be made for non cricket reasons. That is, how will he fit in with the regime that Langer has been trying to create since that dark day in South Africa. I would pick him in the squad for the World Cup just for his power and ability to hit boundaries in the power play. I think they need him if they hope to score 300+ totals consistently

mikeh: good post -- I would not pick Warner as he has already been sent home from England once before; I would consider him, subject to form of course, for the home tests in late 2019. Ideally, the selectors need younger players, such as, Renshaw to make plenty of runs, as this, together with the fact that Warner is getting on a little, will make it easier to squeeze him out of the side shold they decide to do so.