“I was very disappointed not to be in that side”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Australia pace bowler John Hastings has admitted that he was “pretty shocked” to be excluded from the squad for the three-match ODI series against New Zealand next month.
Hastings is the joint-highest wicket-taker in ODIs in 2016 with 29 scalps and despite breaking his finger during the Matador Cup last month, he confirmed that he has made a full recovery and is set to make his comeback in Victoria’s Sheffield Shield match against South Australia on Saturday.
With Australia choosing to leave out Hastings, their pace attack will be spearheaded by Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, while James Faulkner, Mitchell Marsh and the uncapped Hilton Cartwright will all play a supporting role.
Hastings revealed that interim chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns told him that the decision to drop him stemmed from the fact that he had not played in a month. Furthermore, it also had to do with Starc and Hazlewood’s return to the 50-over format after they were rested for the ODI series against South Africa in September-October.
“I was very disappointed – I was initially pretty shocked, to be honest,” Hastings said in Melbourne on Friday. “I felt my performances over the last 12 months had probably stacked up and in my mind, I’m 100% fit.
“I know I haven’t played a lot of cricket, but five and a half months of not playing cricket and then going over to Sri Lanka without a game, it didn’t really stack up for me. So yeah, I was very disappointed not to be in that side.”
Despite missing out on selection for the Chappell-Hadlee Series, Hastings pointed out that according to Hohns, he is still on the national selectors’ radar.
“He [Hohns] just said I haven’t really been playing much and the big boys were back, so that’s all I can take,” Hastings said. “For me, I don’t really have a vessel to get back into that side. The Matador Cup is gone and my next white-ball game will be on Boxing Day, so for me, hopefully I get a game tomorrow in the Sheffield Shield, but other than that, it’s really all I can do.
“I’ve taken the most one-day international wickets in the world this year, so obviously I’m disappointed not to be there. But if they think those guys can do a better job, then that’s fair enough, I can cop that. I just have to try to go back and prove people wrong again.”