As part of the ongoing discussion around the place of Shane Watson in the Australian cricket team I was challenged to have a look at the credentials of the other opening batsman who are presently playing in the Sheffield Shield to come up with a viable alternative player, if there is one.

For the purposes of this exercise I have come up with a formula that could be used to consider the prospects of the current contenders in the first class game. That formula is this: the batsman must be an opening batsman rather than a “stop gap”, he must have played at least 20 first class games and his batting average must by greater than 40 runs per innings. I have gone with a right hander because of a personal view that the best opening partnerships include a left and right hander (Matt Hayden and Justin Langer’s union aside).

First things first, in last year’s Sheffield Shield competition there were 28 openers used by the 6 states in the competition across the 31 games played, including the final. Of those openers there are 4 that I consider to be of the nature of “stop gap” openers; viz., openers who are opening in a match situation because of injury or tactical reasons only. This recent season Messrs Hanscombe, Carters, Burns, Sheridan and Hill fall into that category.

So the list of openers is culled to 23 potential candidates. Of those openers only 8 are right handed which reduces our pool of players to these names: Moller, Silk, Davis, Nevill, Klinger, Kemp, Raphael and Dawson. Of these players only Davis, Nevill, Klinger and Dawson have played more than 20 first class games to see them go through to the final test: what do they average in first class cricket. For this purpose I have considered two metrics: average last year and career average to test whether the form of the player is improving over time or reducing.

Unfortunately the numbers here make very very ordinary reading as follows:

Liam Davis averaged 18.06 last season and over a 40 game career averages 31.22.

Peter Nevill averaged 26.31 last season and over a 31 game career averages 37.62.

Michael Klinger averaged 19.41 last season and over a 113 game career averages 37.26.

David Dawson averaged 25.33 last season and over a 31 game career averages 24.07.

If I release the metaphorical statistical hold on the number of games a player has played in order to qualify to be Watson’s replacement for this exercise then Jordan Silk would qualify given his excellent start to his first class career. That said, I could not believe for a second that selecting a player after 3 shield games and 2 additional first class game could possibly by selected to play for Australia: it is just too soon.

So: what does this all mean? Well, based on the criteria that was set for this exercise there is no replacement for Shane Watson in the team as a right handed opening batsman. Now before you all jump all over me and suggest that there is no need to make the distinction between left and right handed openers I have also considered how left handed openers went last year in the Sheffield Shield competition. Only two left handed opening batsmen in first class cricket in Australia last summer averaged over 40 and they were Chris Rogers and Phil Hughes. Both are already in the Australian team.

As I final postscript I also had pause to consider the credentials of the right handed opener currently opening for the Australian A team in its tour of South Africa, Aaron Finch. Finch played four first class games last season for Victoria albeit none of them as an opener and averaged 11.33. He has a career average of 29.07 in 31 games. The bizarre nature of his selection as an opener for Australia A is just flabbergasting given that it is patently NOT on form.

All in all, for those fans yearning for a replacement of Shane Watson from the ranks of domestic cricket in Australia then you might be waiting some time. Simply put, there is no one in the wings smashing down the door to be selected in his place.