Captain Pat Cummins has revealed why a potential debutant was snubbed and who will replace Travis Head for the next Ashes Test in Sydney.
Australia has made one change to the team that beat England in Melbourne for the fourth Ashes Test at the SCG.
Travis Head — who was ruled out after testing positive to Covid-19 — has been replaced by Usman Khawaja.
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Josh Hazlewood and Jhye Richardson are both still not 100 per cent fit, so Scott Boland keeps his place in the starting XI alongside fellow fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.
There have been calls to blood a second spinner in the dead-rubber by giving a baggy green to leggie Mitchell Swepson, who has been on the fringe of a Test call-up for years. But selectors opted against pairing the Queenslander with Nathan Lyon on an SCG pitch that — despite its reputation over the years — is no longer considered a tweaker’s paradise.
Several pundits were keen to see Swepson in action because the series is already wrapped up 3-0 and the Aussies play a stack of Tests on the subcontinent this year, where a second spinner will be a necessity.
Some argued the wrist-spinner should play in Sydney to ease him into Test cricket and give him some experience before tours of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India while others argued Australia should simply pick its best XI for the remaining two Ashes Tests.
Cummins revealed the team for Sydney to reporters on Tuesday morning and said Swepson missed out because the SCG wicket isn’t suited to playing two slow bowlers.
Meanwhile, Boland keeps his place after taking an astonishing 6/7 in the second innings on debut at the MCG last month.
There were suggestions — including from Aussie legend Ricky Ponting — the Victorian would be left out of the side despite his Melbourne miracle if Hazlewood and Richardson were fit but selectors are taking a cautious approach with the two pacemen.
Hazlewood hasn’t played since the series opener in Brisbane because of a side strain while Richardson, who starred in Adelaide by taking five wickets in the second innings on his long-awaited return to the Test arena, is being eased back after spending a couple of years on the sideline because of injury.
Khawaja lost out to Head in a shootout for the vacant No. 5 position at the start of the series but was an obvious replacement, having been part of the Test squad all summer as the spare batter.
Although he has spent most of his 44-Test career as a No. 3 and opener, the left-hander has been batting at No. 4 for Queensland in recent times so has experience in the middle order.
Australia XI: Marcus Harris, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland