John Hastings shocked at ODI snub despite record year
John Hastings, the veteran medium pacer and lower-order batsman, is shocked over his omission from the one-day international squad for the forthcoming series against New Zealand.
Hastings, with 29 wickets from 15 matches, is the leading wicket-taker in ODI cricket this year, tied with England's Adil Rashid. Despite a string of impressive performances, the selectors chose to overlook Hastings in favour of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Faulkner and Patrick Cummins.
The 31-year-old had missed the last month of domestic cricket due to a finger injury. But he's been cleared for a Sheffield Shield comeback after being named in Victoria's 12-man squad to face South Australia starting Sunday.
"I was very disappointed (at being left out). I was initially pretty shocked, to be honest. I thought my performances over the last 12 months have stacked up and in my mind I'm 100 percent fit.
"I know I haven't played a lot of cricket but five-and-a-half months without playing cricket and going over to Sri Lanka without playing a game (and doing well), it didn't really stack up for me," Hastings said of his omission, via cricket.com.au.
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John Hastings, the wily veteran
Though Hastings doesn't have the speed and skills of Starc and Hazelwood, he's a wily trickster who mixes up the pace and always makes it difficult for batsmen, especially on slow and low surfaces.
Since his comeback to the ODI squad in England last year, Hastings has claimed 32 wickets from just 17 games – including a career-best haul of 6/45 against Sri Lanka at Dambulla.
Hastings said that he's had to deal with naysayers his entire career and will have to prove people wrong once again. "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, that's fair enough. I can cop that. I've just got to go back and try and prove people wrong again."
The all-rounder, who is also averaging 38 with the bat this year, said he had no option but to move past the snub and work his way back to the national team. "I've got to put that to bed now. There's obviously the initial disappointment and you can take that. But moving forward you've got to put that aside and go out and perform.
"There's no point in kicking cans around and having your head down. You've got to go back out there and show that you want to play for Victoria and want to play in that Australian team," added Hastings.
John Hastings made his one-day international debut against India in 2010. He played his solitary Test match against South Africa at Perth in December 2012.
