Aussie coach’s big call on ‘Wild Thing’ Lance Morris after thrilling nets battle with Marnus

The premium Australia is placing on defending the World Test Championship is outweighing the prospect of injecting fresh blood into the side to tackle Pakistan in Perth this summer.

Western Australian fast bowler Lance Morris peppered the nation’s best batsmen, including Marnus Labuschagne, in a spirited training session at the WACA Ground on Sunday.

But the 25-year-old is set to continue his apprenticeship in the initial stages of this summer with Australia to continue with the team which retained the Ashes.

A week after penning a controversial column on David Warner, former Australian fast bowler Mitch Johnson said selectors should be preparing for a “dramatic change” to the Test team.

In a column for The West Australian, he noted Labuschagne is the only member of the Australian team under 30 and this was “the summer to blood some young or performing players” including the lightning fast Morris.

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But Australian coach Andrew McDonald all but guaranteed champion spinner Nathan Lyon will be the only inclusion into the XI which defended the Ashes in England this year.

“They have all returned in good order, as we saw, and it was fantastic to have a centre wicket at the WACA Ground, to be able to go out and train there,” McDonald said.

“It was perfect conditions to have a really good contest between the bat and ball and I saw Lance put a few under notice there, in particular ‘Marn’, so it was a good contest, a good get out, and as I said, all the quicks returned in good order.

“In terms of what that means for selection, we’ll work through that over the next couple of days but I think, how do I put this, it’ll look the same as what it has before now.”

Australia was docked ten points for slow over rates during the Ashes, which saw the nation drop to third position in the infancy of a two-year cycle that runs until mid-2025.

While the summer ahead against Pakistan and the West Indies appeals as a period in which Australia can take strides forward, it travels to New Zealand for two Tests in Spring and then hosts India next summer.

As a result, McDonald said the selection philosophy was to choose the best available team each Test rather than tinker with the side with a view to blooding future prospects.

“We’re pretty clear on our selection philosophy and what underpins that, so we’re there to pick the best 11 that we can at any given time,” he said.

“I think the World Test Championships puts a premium on every Test match. We saw that we missed out on the first cycle of it by … two points, which was deducted by over rate of all things. So every Test match counts.”

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This extends to discussion as to who will replace Warner once his time in the Test team is complete, with the veteran opener having circled the SCG Test to start 2024 for his farewell.

McDonald said he had noted the sound performances of Matt Renshaw, Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris and Cameron Green in the Prime Minister’s XI match against Pakistan in Canberra.

But the Australian selectors will wait until a replacement is required for Warner before buying into the debate.

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The return of Lyon, who needs four more wickets to pass the 500 mark in Test cricket, is a clear boost after he missed the final three matches of the Ashes with a calf injury.

The off-spinner has performed well in Perth, with McDonald noting he enjoyed the bounce on offer at the WACA and, more recently, Optus Stadium.

“It’s an extraordinary record and I’m glad someone noticed the fact that we were missing him in the last three Test matches, because it was a huge loss when he went down,” McDonald said.

“It destabilised what we normally do and he’s been down the other end from those quicks for … 100-plus Tests, or 100-plus matches, so (he is) important to the way that we want to operate.

“He can tie up an end. He can be aggressive when he wants to be. He makes that attack work, there is no doubt about that. And when he wasn’t there, we went through some periods of instability and we had to find different ways of doing things. It is great to have him back.”

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Having confronted ‘Bazball’ during the Ashes, there is a prospect Pakistan might attempt to increase their tempo when at the crease in a bid to unsettle the Australian attack.

But McDonald warned that they did so at their own peril given the quality of the host nation’s bowling line-up.

“They’ve gone through some transition with their coaching staff and management and I think in the last series they played, they played a more up-tempo brand in a bid to put more pressure on the bowling, so I think we will see a little more of that,” he said.

“But like anything, if we execute well with the ball, it’s going to be difficult to be able to maintain that over long periods of time. So we’re not sure the way that they’ll play. They will signal their intent from the first ball once we get over to (Optus Stadium). We’ll see what happens.”