Former Australian test cricketer Simon O’Donnell believes only a master performance will change selector’s minds in the lead up to the first Ashes Test.
As media debate rages about the make-up of the side to battle the Poms, O’Donnell believes the hysteria created will not be matched by those charged with picking the team for the Gabba Test commencing on November 23.
“Media is driving a lot of change to the team leading up to the test match because we’ve got three shield games that generally don’t see the internationals available for,” he told SEN’s The Run Home.
“There is debate about all sorts of spots in that side and we’re all having a meal of that.
“But I don’t think the selectors will be anywhere near as frantic as we are. They’ll pretty much know what their line-up is and unless something drastic happens, like Jake Lehmann punching out another century, then they might have to pencil him at some point in the series.”
Recent shield performances did little to clear up the debate given a handful of players vying for spots, including Glenn Maxwell, Hilton Cartwright and Matthew Wade failed to set the world on fire.
O’Donnell attributed continous cricket in the sub-continent as the driving force behind the Australian side being ranked the fifth-best test outfit in the world.
“We’re spending a lot more of our life playing on the sub-continent and that’s making our cricketers vulnerable like we’ve never seen before,” he said.
“We just don’t have any classic batsman at the moment.
“If that gets back to a lack of participation then that’s a real worry because they will only get spread further as time goes on.”