‘Love to pick him’: Aussie coach hints at SCG recall; struggling star ‘hasn’t nailed down a spot’

Australian head coach Andrew McDonald has hinted there won’t be wholesale changes to the team’s starting XI for the fifth and final Ashes Test in Sydney, guaranteeing selection for veteran batter Usman Khawaja and fast bowler Mitchell Starc.

Having already secured the coveted Ashes urn with three straight wins, Australia lost the fourth Test in Melbourne by four wickets, with England sealing its first victory down under in nearly 15 years.

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Multiple Australian batters struggled on the MCG’s seam-friendly deck, with pressure mounting on the likes of No. 3 Marnus Labuschagne, opener Jake Weatherald and all-rounder Cameron Green.

However, speaking to reporters at the MCG on Monday morning, McDonald cautioned against experimenting with the team line-up in Sydney next week, resisting the temptation to blood younger players ahead of the packed 2026/27 schedule. Although the series finale is effectively a dead rubber, he stressed that World Test Championship points were still up for grabs in the New South Wales capital.

“WTC is something that we aim and strive for,” McDonald said.

“Every Test match is vitally important, and we like to think we just pick the best Test team for that surface based upon that opponent, because the WTC is something that is held in such high regard by this group.

“We like to be consistent.”

McDonald also emphasised the team’s recent success, questioning whether it was necessary to swing the axe when Australia has won six of its seven matches during the current World Test Championship cycle.

“We’re 3-1 up in the series, so this group’s been able to perform at a high level once again,” he continued.

“I know there’s always going to be pressure zeroed in on certain individuals, and the media – being the people in the room – like to always zero in on one or two and really push to potentially get a change.

“But when you’re 3-1 up and you’ve played pretty good cricket and you got it slightly wrong on a surface that was tricky, what do you do? I suppose that’s the question.

“You guys can speculate around that. We’ll make decisions based on the surface (in Sydney).

“We like to back our players and I think we’ve shown that over a period of time that they’ve got our support.

“We’ll try to make the right decisions in the process we’ve worked through.”

Khawaja, who turned 39 earlier this month, has averaged 21.23 since the start of June’s World Test Championship final, with growing speculation on whether the New Year’s Test would be his final international appearance in Australia. However, McDonald reiterated the Queenslander had given “no indication” on when he would retire from the game’s longest format.

“His performance in this calendar year has been good enough to warrant selection,” McDonald said of Khawaja.

“I’d say he’d be there, marking centre in Sydney.”

McDonald also confirmed that barring any late mishaps, Starc would play in Sydney next week, making it 27 consecutive Test appearances for the tall left-armed quick, a remarkable feat considering his age and Australia’s packed calendar.

Albeit unlikely, McDonald backed the 35-year-old to continue that streak through to next summer, where Australia is scheduled to play at least 18 Tests across a chaotic ten-month window.

“Historically you would say realistically it’s not possible as a fast bowler to get through that, but is it possible with Mitchell Starc? I think it is,” McDonald said.

“He’s going to play five Test matches again this summer, so it’s incredible, and there’s been some shortened Test matches that have helped that also.”

Australia controversially sidelined spinner Todd Murphy for the Boxing Day Test due to the seam-friendly conditions, a decision that was validated by the two-day outcome, but McDonald stressed the brave selection call was an “outlier”.

“It takes a lot for us to not pick a spinner, and we have been pushed into making that decision,” he explained.

“Red-ball games, that’s the first time in a long time that we haven’t picked a spinner. It’s not something that we like doing. I don’t think it’s something that will happen moving forward.”

Quizzed on whether Murphy would earn a recall in Sydney next week, McDonald declared: “I’d love to pick Todd. I’d love to see what he’s got to offer.

“We think he’s back to his best, and what we’ve seen when he’s come closer to the camp has been excellent.

“We’d love to pick him.”

Elsewhere, McDonald floated the possibility of elevating wicketkeeper Alex Carey to No. 5 in the batting order, explaining that his recent promotion to No. 6 was “reward for the performance he had over a period of time”.

“I always thought that Adam Gilchrist should have batted higher,” he said.

“It’s probably a little bit of my belief that the wicketkeeper is a batter, and that a left-hander at No. 6 and the attacking nature at No. 6 gave us a different dynamic, and I think it’s contributed to some of the success we had in those first three games.

“Players are more versed in moving around because of white-ball cricket as well, and we’ve been on the record that batting orders aren’t a strong belief of ours.”

Since returning from back surgery at the start of the year, Green has averaged 21.42 in the Test arena, subsequently slipping from No. 3 to No. 7 in the line-up. McDonald confessed the West Australian, who still hasn’t notched a half-century this summer, had failed to cement his spot in the Test side.

“He fits around others at the moment,” McDonald declared.

“He hasn’t nailed down a spot.”

Green’s struggles have opened the door for fellow all-rounder Beau Webster to potentially return to the Test side next week, with McDonald confessing the Tasmanian was “unlucky” to miss selection for the first four matches of the series.

“It’s a nice problem to have,” he said.

“People are going to debate selection. They’re going to debate where Cameron’s at at this point in time and how he fits.

“We know we’ve got a quality player (in Webster) sitting there waiting.

“We’ve got a batting order that we’d like to think can function at a higher capacity, so we’ll be having conversations leading into Sydney.”

The fifth and final Ashes Test between Australia and England gets underway at the SCG on January 4.