I see Ricky Ponting has backed Simon Katich as an ODI opener. This is usually the kiss of death, and I expect Katich to be dropped fairly soon.
Ponting's justification of Katich's continued selection is questionable: "Kato's been pretty steady at the top of the order for a while now and he deserves his chance to open the batting in the Champions Trophy."
Fine. Yes, Katich is making consistent runs at the top of the order, but this is not the issue with Katich, it's the manner in which he scores them. Yes, Australia have been winning their matches, but it is not Katich's contributions which are leading to those victories. In fact, a typical innings of 30 from 50 balls is a hindrance to the rest of the batting order.
Just watch the increased risks the likes of Gilchrist and Ponting take to make up for Katich at the other end. Also the number of run outs Katich is involved in is alarming.
Anyway, why must a team like Australia with 4 of the top 5 ODI batsmen in the world need an anchor like Katich? Any one out of Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Symonds can stabilise the batting after a collapse. Why is the anchor opening the batting during the fielding restrictions? So he has more fieldsmen in the circle to hit to? What good is an anchor who soaks up valuable balls at the top of the order due to an inability to rotate the strike? So the middle order batsmen take more risks to rectify the run rate?
The theory of an anchor batsman in this Australian team is impractical at best and nonsense at worse. There are far better options; Jaques, Hussey, Watson. This ploy will be exposed when we play against top class competition.
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Going by the "If we pick them now and fail, we don't pick them later" principle, I'd LOVE to see Australia lose in the Champions Trophy (one series they're seriously keen on winning) thanks to Krap.
Very plausible scenario. Nice target of 280ish, India starting with the usual rubbish opening bowlers and then Harbhajan and Powar in the middle overs. And then Krap making 45 off 80 to start the innings, give Pathan and co. shockingly decent figures and then make a chase impossible by the time the spinners come on.
And then by the time the tri-series began in Aus, we'd have some combination of Jaques/Hayden/Gilchrist/Clarke/Watson walking out to bat together...
[PS: Glad you mentioned his running. He's one of the worst runners I've seen at international level, on par with Ganguly. So, so, SO many mix ups. Did he not learn that there's a better way to call a second run than "Yes yes no wait oh no oh shit sorry"?]
I'm willing for Australia to lose this if Katich is dropped. Hopefully the selectors/coach/captain wake up and drop the dead weight before it can happen.
Another poor runner is Damien Martyn. Now I don't mind at all if they run themselves out (especially in Katich's case), but it is highly annoying when the better players are run out.
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