While Cartwright’s bowling record is less notable, the acting selection chairman Trevor Hohns emphasised the desire for a batting allrounder to take a place in the top six © Getty Images
Australia’s selectors have pushed further towards youth, ignoring Mitchell Marsh in order to draft in his West Australian team-mate Hilton Cartwright into the Boxing Day Test squad as all-round cover for a bowling attack heavily fatigued by their Gabba exertions.
Cartwright, who had already been included in the Chappell-Hadlee ODI squad to face New Zealand but not played, is a player whose virtues have been pushed by the interim selector Greg Chappell in particular, as part of the developmental Cricket Australia XI that first played in the Matador Cup two summers ago.
Last season he graduated to the WA state side and performed strongly in the Sheffield Shield, something he has backed up this season to average 44.50 across 16 first-class matches. While Cartwright’s bowling record is less notable, the acting selection chairman Trevor Hohns emphasised the desire for a batting allrounder to take a place in the top six, a role Marsh has been unable to adequately fill over time.
“The bowlers got through a high workload in Brisbane and although everyone has pulled up okay, on reflection we wanted to give ourselves the option of including an all-rounder in Melbourne to ease that workload somewhat,” Hohns said.
“To do that we wanted a batting all-rounder, someone to bowl seam-up and capable of batting in the top six as well, and after considering several names we came to the conclusion that Hilton fits that bill.
“We have seen plenty of him, he has performed well this season and we believe that if called upon he will do an excellent job.”
Cartwright’s inclusion will create further speculation around the place of Nic Maddinson, who batted No. 6 in the past two Tests without having the desired impact.
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo