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Opener Jake Weatherald has won a place in Australia’s Ashes squad and is the leading contender to partner Usman Khawaja at the top of the order for the first Test in Perth.
But the Tasmania batter has not yet secured a spot in the XI for the series opener, with chief selector George Bailey saying he would wait until the end of the coming round of Sheffield Shield matches before making a decision on the final line-up.
“I think if you look at [Weatherald’s] performance over 18, 24 months, it’s been really solid,” Bailey said. “There’s a method there that I think we like and is complimentary to those other players around him in the squad. He scores at a good rate, the way he goes about building his innings has been impressive.”
Weatherald averages almost 38 in first class cricket, but has scored three half centuries in his three Sheffield Shield matches this season.
Marnus Labuschagne has also been recalled after he was left out of the tour of the West Indies earlier this year, and Bailey confirmed the Queenslander had the “capability” of opening.
The selector said Labuschagne has made some adjustments and is in a “good place”. The 31-year-old has scored five centuries already this season.
“As soon as he was left out of that West Indies [tour] team, his first question is, ‘well how many runs do you need for me to come back?’,” Bailey said. “It was a very clear message that the runs would be a byproduct of some of the other things that we wanted to see, and part of that was – not getting back to the old Marn – but a method and a way of batting and some technical things that we wanted to see.”
The decisions at the top of the order will be influenced by the fitness of Cameron Green, the all-rounder who can bat up and down the order.
Bailey said he wanted to see 15 to 20 overs in the coming Shield match from the 26-year-old, who has battled side soreness this season. However, he didn’t rule out selecting Green as a specialist batter again, after he was deployed as a non-bowling No 3 as recently as July against the West Indies.
“If someone’s an all-rounder, you want them to be able to, in an ideal world, be capable of performing their skills, so it’s a nice piece of the puzzle,” Bailey said. “But if it’s not the case, then it ends up being the another Test and that’s OK, we’ll work through it.”
Beau Webster has deputised ably in the all-rounder role. He has averaged almost 35 with the bat and 23 with the ball since coming into the side for the New Year’s Test.
Sean Abbott and Brendan Doggett provide the squad’s bowling depth, and both have a chance of playing at some point during the series given captain Pat Cummins’s estimated return for the second Test is not yet confirmed.
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Bailey said neither was clearly ahead of the other, and decisions on the bowling line-up will consider the mix of who is available. “It’s a complementary skillset around where that role might be, what surface you’re on, and all those sorts of different things, but it’ll be the best fit again,” he said.
Weatherald’s inclusion dashes hopes of recalls for Sam Konstas and Matt Renshaw. Bailey said he “feels for” Konstas, the 20-year-old opener who starred on debut at the MCG last year but has now dropped down the list of options. “At the moment if he farts, it’s a headline,” Bailey said.
“There’s a handful of young guys his age playing Shield cricket around the country, and they’re all learning, and they’re all going through a journey of becoming the best cricketer they can be, and Sammy’s no different to that. He just happens to be doing it under what seems to be immense scrutiny at the moment.”
Steve Smith will captain the side in Cummins’s absence, though the paceman will be with the squad in Perth as he continues his rehabilitation.
The first Ashes Test begins on 21 November at Optus Stadium.
Australia squad: Steve Smith (captain), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald and Beau Webster.
