Nine new faces as next-gen takes over… and who survives — Predicted 2029 Ashes squad

Identified as a likely prospect for a nation with a Test team in the infancy of an evolution, Oliver Peake jets out to Africa this week with Australia’s best young cricketers.

The Victorian left-hander, who excelled in the 2024 triumph over India as the team’s youngest member, will captain his team and has already been singled out for high honours.

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A day after Australia secured the Urn with a dominant 4-1 triumph over England, Fox Cricket canvassed its experts with a view to a substantial stanza of Test cricket beginning in August.

There was a consensus of sorts. The Australian side is ageing, but the older stars continue to excel and providing their fitness and hunger hold, there will be few changes to 2028.

It is a period that includes massive series against South Africa, India and England on the road, a home summer against the crafty Kiwis, the 150th Anniversary Test at the MCG and, performance depending, another appearance in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s.

Throw in a T20 World Cup next month, an ODI World Cup defence in Africa next October and the debut of cricket in the Olympics in 2028 and there is much to be excited about.

A Gold Medal finale for some golden oldies? It might be the perfect way to say goodbye.

But after that? As Australian great Adam Gilchrist said last week, it is likely that after this busy period there will be a “pretty reasonable flip” in personnel.

And apologies to England. If you think life is going to get better once the top guns have retired, Gilchrist feels there is emerging talent in the ranks who will carry the torch forward.

“I think Ollie is a clear and obvious one, the way he has made an impression in Big Bash and also in domestic cricket and I think we have a really exciting batch of kids coming through,” he told foxsports.com.au on the weekend.

“There are a few who have also been around for a couple of years like Campbell Kellaway. I am really excited by him, and Ollie is obviously one of those. I would expect he would be very successful in the under-19 carnival, and that is a very important pathway because you can get some sort of read on what the future looks like.

“But then coming back and reproducing it in domestic cricket, I think that is really important.”

Picking future stars is a little more exact than landing the lotto but tales of caution abound of gold-rated youngsters whose talent dissipated one entering more disciplined senior ranks.

But it is exciting to watch promising talents develop into international players and Peake is among those who are considered capable of featuring in Australia’s next home Ashes series.

Provided their form and fitness holds in a landscape certain to be influenced by growing franchise demands, a handful of incumbents are in the age profile where 2029 is in reach.

The include captain Pat Cummins, vice-captain Travis Head, all-rounder Cameron Green, wicketkeeper Josh Inglis, quicks Jhye Richardson and Brendan Doggett and Nathan Lyon’s understudy Todd Murphy. But gaps will open by 2029 for those who thrive domestically.

“I am loath to fast-track from under-19s straight into international cricket,” Gilchrist said.

“I like the concept of learning their craft and learning how to build performance after performance in domestic cricket. But I do feel like the likes of Cooper Connolly, and just casting my eyes across a number of state teams, there is a really talented group. I think our depth and talent pool is in a really healthy position.”

‘IT’S NOT RUSSIAN ROULETTE. IT’S JUST CRICKET’

Fox Cricket expert analyst Kerry O’Keeffe, who keeps a close eye on developing young talent around the country, labelled Kellaway and Sam Konstas as leading lights to watch.

Peake, who featured in the Prime Minister’s XI against England in Canberra, has shown promise for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield and also for the Melbourne Renegades in the BBL.

O’Keeffe likes his weaponry but warns there are technical aspects for the lefty to work on with a view towards earning a baggy green cap by the time the next home Ashes occur.

“He’s a great attacker, but I’ve seen him get out a few times defending where there is a gap between bat and pad, or he has nicked off,” he told foxsports.com.au.

“My barometer (for selection) is ‘How will they defend?’ And his reputation is built on how he attacks. So when he’s forced to defend, he has come up a little short. It’s not Russian roulette. It’s just cricket. But we’ve seen with England what happens when you can’t defend.

“That’s my only query. But Oliver has fantastic hands. His short arm jolts are powerful. He is a great talent and he has a high ceiling, but to say he’s a shoe-in to bat in the middle order (is a step too far at this stage).”

While Peake and Konstas are in the infancy of their careers, O’Keeffe said opportunities will present for batters currently maturing in the Sheffield Shield, which resumes in February.

One player he had hoped would kick on this summer with a view to forcing his way into Australia’s middle order is South Australian batter Jason Sangha.

The Sydneysider, who similarly to Peake is a former Australian under-19 representative, flourished on moving to Adelaide and was brilliant in last year’s Sheffield Shield final.

He followed that with a double century for Australia A against Sri Lanka A in a match current Test opener Jake Weatherald also made a ton.

Prior to the season South Australian coach and former Aussie bowler Ryan Harris said runs remained the most critical currency for Sangha and Nathan McSweeney, who will be hoping another chance to flourish in Test cricket comes his way after his brief stint against India.

“Jason’s been told he just needs to go and do what he did last year, the same (with) Nathan, just find that form that got him the Test set up,” Harris told ESPN Cricinfo in September.

“That’s one of those things we’ve spoken about, but we don’t talk a lot about because we know that George (Bailey) can ring me and say, ‘No, we’re not looking at you right now.’

“Then (the player) goes out and makes two or three hundreds in the first two or three games, and all of a sudden someone else has failed and he’s in.”

Sadly for Sangha, his form has faded since, with the 26-year-old making just 110 runs in six Sheffield Shield knocks this season.

“It is frustrating that someone with his immense potential, after he finished last year with a match winning century and then a double-hundred for Australia A, is now hardly mentioned as an alternative. How has that happened?” O’Keeffe said.

“We have seen over the years with players like David Hookes and Rick McCosker, they get five Shield hundreds in a row and that demands selection. Sangha had that chance and all he needed was a score to start to get mentioned as a chance for the Australian team.

“He is a talented kid. He bats like Hashim Amla. But the people who are discussing him at the moment are the South Australian selectors and whether he can stay in the team.”

‘IT’S SURE TO GO A COMPLETE FLIP AROUND’

In the dying throes of England’s failed Ashes campaign a beacon of hope emerged, with Jacob Bethell batting brilliantly with his maiden first class century coming in a Test match.

A young lefty with a good technique and temperament? The Aussies will be hoping Kellaway, Peake, Harry Dixon, Connolly and co can flourish in coming years and provide a similar threat.

Barring misfortune, Bethell is certain to be back at the MCG next year for the 150th Anniversary Test. And by 2029 it is likely he will be a mainstay of the English batting order.

Which begs the question. Which Aussie quicks will be bowling to Bethell and Bazballing Harry Brook, provided he adheres to the bollocking he is likely to receive at home?

Fox Cricket expert analyst Brett Lee noted Australia had great success with Scott Boland, Michael Neser, Brendan Doggett and Jhye Richardson, to a lesser extent, in this series.

The latter two will remain in the age frame for the next home Ashes, so too Cummins, but Lee suspects there will be significant changes by the time 2029 rolls around.

He is also confident in the depth of the young talent and noted youngsters Mahli Beardman and Callum Vidler, who are both 20, had spent time around the Aussie squad already.

The “Wild Thing” Lance Morris has faded in prominence due to injury but if he can find fitness, it is clear he was in Australia’s thinking given his pace and skills.

Cummins, who went six years between Test appearances as he strived for fitness in his early 20s, is a prime example of why it is important not to write off bright young hopes.

Should Australia need a medium-paced bowler to replace Boland or Neser, who have proven effective at home, Victorian Fergus O’Neill has sizzled in the Sheffield Shield for seasons, while Gilchrist likes the promise Olive Patterson has shown for the Brisbane Heat.

“You’ve almost got to think it’s sure to go a complete flip around, because you want those guys who are in their early 20s now, in my opinion, to be there,” Lee told foxsports.com.au

“The hardest thing for a number of bowlers that have been the second cab off the rank, that have come through the journey with the main four, is that they’re also getting older as well.

“It’s almost like they missed the boat, a bit like what happened with MacGill and Warne. If MacGill was born 10 years later, he would have gone on to take who knows how many more Test wickets. And I think it’s going to happen with a few of the bowlers now who are in their early 30s because they unfortunately have just been born in the wrong era.

“So we’ve got to look at the young guys coming through. I think Beardman, who’s 20 years of age, I like his action and he has spent some time in the camp and he would be a guy that I’d be looking at closely.

“I know he has hardly played any cricket at that top level, but what I’ve seen, and I like his action, he’d be a guy that I’d be saying … just watch this space, but they need to nurture him and look after him.”

When talking to The Follow On podcast in December, O’Keeffe said he loved the skills of Xavier Bartlett, 27, when flagging him as a smoky to be selected this summer.

The Gold Coaster has played five ODIs and 16 T20s for Australia and told Fox Cricket in Brisbane in September he had baggy green aspirations.

Lee is encouraged by that and said cricketers currently plying their trade for Australia in white ball cricket should be focusing on ensuring their red ball skills are in order as well.

“If you have a look at the 10 or 15 bowlers that are on display now for the Big Bash, people always go, ‘Well, who’s next in line with cricket for the future?’” he said.

“They just assume that if you have white ball in your hand, you can’t bowl with a red ball. But I don’t believe that’s true. I sort of throw a name around like Nathan Ellis, who I think has got some great white ball skills. But why can’t he play red ball cricket?

“It’s probably a mindset for a lot of the bowlers that are playing white ball and the shorter form of the game, T20 cricket, but my advice to any youngster out there would be that if you work on your skills with a red ball, there’s going to be opportunities present themselves over the next 12 to 18 months, because as much we want these awesome forces to continue, like anything, there comes a time when that next generation will come through.”

PREDICTED AUSTRALIA 2029 ASHES SQUAD

FOX CRICKET LOOKS INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL…

Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Jhye Richardson, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Sam Konstas, Campbell Kellaway, Ollie Peake, Oliver Patterson, Mahli Beardman, Xavier Bartlett, Callum Vidler, Cooper Connolly, Harry Dixon

IN (from 2025): Sam Konstas, Campbell Kellaway, Ollie Peake, Oliver Patterson, Mahli Beardman, Xavier Bartlett, Callum Vidler, Cooper Connolly, Harry Dixon

OUT (from 2025): Steve Smith, Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster

REMAINING: Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Jhye Richardson, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy