Captain Pat Cummins confirms line-up for Australia’s first Test match in Darwin in two decades as they face Bangladesh from Thursday
Josh Hazlewood has shaded Scott Boland for the final spot in Australia’s XI to face Bangladesh, with the hosts also sticking with dual pace-bowling allrounders for the Darwin Test.
Captain Pat Cummins revealed on the eve of his side’s first Test in eight months that Boland would be the unlucky quick to miss out as the ‘big three’ of Cummins, Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are set to be reunited for the first time in more than a year.
Nathan Lyon also returns after missing the back-end of the Ashes with a hamstring injury, while Cameron Green holds his spot alongside fellow batting allrounder Beau Webster.
Boland was an ironman last summer, featuring in all five Ashes Tests as Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon all missed significant time. He is certain to feature heavily over a busy forthcoming 12-month period during which Australia will play up to 21 Tests.
Australia XI: Jake Weatherald, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Beau Webster, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
“They’re both pretty class, aren’t they?” Cummins said when asked about choosing between Hazlewood and Boland. “We were pretty certain we wanted ‘Lyono’ in the side, so (it came down to) working out what the make-up of the quicks were.
“It’s always a pretty tight call. It’s one of those ones where there’s not much you can say to Scotty other than obviously there’s a lot of cricket coming up. But he knows his worth and how good he is. I’m sure he’ll be out there at some point pretty soon.”
Lyon was always certain to return now he is fit again after undergoing hamstring surgery last summer with a general expectation the Marrara Stadium drop-in pitch will flatten out once the tropical morning dew dissipates.
The 38-year-old is not the only one returning from a long Test layoff with Cummins and Hazlewood having also played just one game during last summer’s Ashes between them due to back and leg issues respectively.
But, aside from Michael Neser who hurt his calf last week, Australia have gotten all of their ageing bowlers to the start line of their taxing run of Test cricket.
“I missed a few Test matches, but it feels like I’ve had a proper 12-month block of basically just gym work and running, things that I don’t think I ever would have had (previously),” he said.
With Beau Webster meanwhile locked in at No.7, Green has been elevated to No.5 after the allrounder finished last summer’s Ashes two spots lower, beneath Alex Carey.
Carey had been open to going up to the No.5 spot vacated by the now retired Usman Khawaja but Cummins suggested the team is better balanced with their wicketkeeper remaining at six after his strong Ashes campaign with both bat and gloves.
“‘Kez’ has won a few games for us at number six,” said Cummins. “We like that combination of him and Webster at six, seven.
“We feel like Greeny’s a good number five – you can try and get funky, but we thought that’s kind of how the team will function the best. Pretty good problem to have when someone like Kez could bat even higher than he is.”
There is little Darwin data for the Australians to draw on. Last year’s Australia A v Sri Lanka A match marked the ground’s only first-class fixture in two decades. Jake Weatherald made a half-century in that match as the home side racked up 486 batting second.
Pace bowlers averaged half as much as spinners but the two Sri Lankan Test-capped tweakers, Sonal Dinusha and Nishan Peiris, kept runs tight, both going at under three per over.
With Bangladesh likely to play both Mahedi Hasan and Taijul Islam, the spin duo who have more than 500 Test wickets between them but none in Australia, it may be an encouraging sign accurate slow bowling can at least play a containment role.
“Just felt it there – looks and feels hard,” Cummins said of the surface that was dropped into the middle of Darwin’s main arena in two separate pieces. “There was an A game out here last year, and it was pretty good batting wicket … don’t know (what) to expect.”
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: August 13-17, Marrara Stadium, Darwin, 10am (local)
Second Test: August 22-26, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 10am (local)
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
Bangladesh squad (first Test): Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Amite Hasan, Jaker Ali, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Musfik Hasan
