In some ways, you can argue that Australia's white-ball tour of the United Kingdom started and ended with the same question. And one that had nothing to do with what transpired during the four weeks that they spent playing six T20Is and five ODIs across Scotland and England. Even if Australia did emerge victorious more often than not, including a narrowly-fought 3-2 series win for the men's ODI world champions.
Comparisons were immediately being drawn between Travis Head and David Warner ©Getty
"Who will be Australia's Test opener alongside Usman Khawaja when India arrive for the home summer?"
Not like anyone seems closer to knowing the answer now than they did when Mitchell Marsh & Co departed from Australia in early September. It's also a question, a quandary even, that will continue to drive a lot of chatter and debate for the next month-and-a-half as we approach the opening Test in Perth on November 22. So much so that even though the focus in the UK was mainly around the future, both immediate and long-term, of Australia's white-ball teams, many of the major headlines on tour still seemed to deflect back to the Test opening conundrum.
Take Travis Head's blistering century to kick off the ODI series against England at Trent Bridge. After of course he'd smashed two half-centuries in the T20Is - 80 in Edinburgh and 59 in Southampton - earlier. The impact of the South Australian left-hander's destruction at the top of the order was him being thrust right back into the mix as the leading contender to replace Steve Smith as Test opener. With comparisons immediately being drawn between Head's attitude to taking apart bowling attacks from the word go and the same approach that David Warner had mastered during his illustrious career. Though Head himself played it down as the tour wore on, every performance of note from him - his exploits with the ball notwithstanding - seemed to get linked with a possible new role for him come the home summer.
Ironically, Marsh was the one who seemed to have been earmarked as Smith's standby before Australia set off for the continent. Considered by some as an unlikely choice, and not simply because he himself had ruled it out as a possibility last summer, Marsh did move up and down the order as the white-ball matches progressed. But he also missed some of the games either with injury or due to the illness that affected the team almost throughout the time they were in the UK. Marsh only managed one knock of note in the ODIs, a vital 60 at No. 3 at Leeds, which would go on to help Australia post a sizeable total, with Alex Carey eventually ending up with the starry performance. His four overs in the fourth ODI at Lord's, despite the loss, were as significant however, once again in lieu of what that could mean for the make-up of the Australian Test team come November and beyond.
Speaking of the main man in question, Smith had a middling series with the bat, scoring one half-century in a loss at Chester-Le-Street before looking at his fluent best once he got going in the rain-affected victory in Bristol. Smith enjoyed himself the most in that fifth ODI after getting a chance to captain Australia in an international match on English soil for the first time since 2015. He was proactive, and on the ball, firstly in the wake of England's all-out assault in the first 25 overs, before moving his bowlers and fielders around like pieces on a chessboard to restrict England to a relatively paltry 309, using his part-time spinners to turn the tide. Interestingly enough, there was hardly any scrutiny over his batting exploits in terms of linking it with any kind of suggestion as to where he might end up batting in the Tests against India.
Cameron Green, the other less-spoken of candidate for batting promotions in the Test line-up, started the tour strongly in Edinburgh before a mixed series in England, which saw him in and out of the side, before a concerning back injury ruled him out of the tour with two ODIs still left. There will be a lot of focus on the big all-rounder's recovery, and his fitness could single-handedly alter the look of Australia's Test line-up and possibly even their success against the Indians. Question marks have emerged about whether his bowling could get affected going into the Test series, but that could possibly open up an option for the Aussie selectors to play him as a specialist batter at the top of the order.
Marnus Labuschagne for many is the like-for-like replacement for Steve Smith as Test opener ©
Marnus Labuschagne for many is the like-for-like replacement for Smith as Test opener, having batted at No. 3 for a majority of his career. And he started the ODIs in mighty fashion, recording his best bowling figures in a dramatic turnaround at Trent Bridge, before producing one of his better ODI knocks, 77 not out in 61 balls, in partnership with Head. Labuschagne only managed 23 runs in his next three innings before not getting a chance to bat in Bristol. As it turned out, he was the least talked-about option as Test opener for now anyway, with Head, Marsh and even Green looking like likelier alternatives at this stage.
There were surely stand-alone and standout performances from some of the other Aussies not in line for Test spots or in consideration for a change in their current roles. Batting and bowling returns from players which could be looked at separately in relation to what it could mean to their own futures and that of the Aussies in white-ball cricket.
While this was supposed to be the crowning moment for Jake Fraser-McGurk as the heir to the Warner's throne, it was Matt Short who ended up doing a run-in and taking over that spot for now. Fraser-McGurk did show glimpses in his maiden half-century against England, but Short emerged as one of the biggest positives from the tour for the Aussies.
It culminated of course in a brilliant knock in Bristol to seal the series, where like he'd done previously in the series, the Victorian gave his team the early impetus with some impetuous hitting against the new-ball. He played a crucial innings in the T20I victory in Southampton as well before recording his first five-wicket haul in the second game, even if it was in vain. Though Australia did alternate between Short and Marsh in that ODI opening role, it's safe to say that the tall off-spinning all-rounder might well have cemented his spot alongside Head for the foreseeable future in the shorter formats.
Josh Inglis, meanwhile, made every opportunity count as he's done since replacing Alex Carey as the No. 1 white-ball wicket-keeper for Australia last year. He will start the summer as he has in the last few years as the premier choice to replace the incumbent Carey in the Test side if it comes to that. Carey redeemed himself in fine fashion with two impressive 70+ scores in back-to-back ODIs, despite many having written him off as a white-ball international cricketer.
Aaron Hardie was an unsung positive for Australia too with bat and ball, putting in feisty and wholehearted efforts in the four ODIs he was a part of. His power-hitting in the third ODI almost took Australia to a match-winning total, but he showed enough glimpses here that he was ready for the highest level. And in case Green's injury is of a serious nature, his fellow Western Australian could well be in line for a Test debut.
There was not much to read into the bowling efforts from the Australians, in the ODIs in particular, especially on English pitches that were mainly slow and turgid at the back end of their summer. Most of the wickets went to either the irrepressible Adam Zampa, or the likes of Head and Glenn Maxwell, who had a quiet series with the bat. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood barely made an impression, but their returns will not warrant any kind of discussion with regards to what's to come later in the summer.
You wonder if any discussion would, to any great extent, unless it has to do with the hot topic dominating every conversation around Australian men's cricket currently. The answer to, "Who will be Australia's Test opener alongside Usman Khawaja when India arrive for the home summer?"
