Australia may consider picking two all-rounders for next week’s Ashes opener in Perth, potentially costing Jake Weatherald a Test debut, as the fitness and durability of its ageing pace attack comes under the microscope following Wednesday’s double injury scare at the SCG.
New South Wales fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Sean Abbott, both named in Australia’s squad for the first Test against England, were sent for scans on sore hamstrings on day three of the Sheffield Shield clash against Victoria. Neither of them batted during the fourth innings as the Blues suffered a 300-run defeat.
Much to the relief of Australian cricket fans, Hazlewood was cleared of serious injury, but Abbott was ruled out of the Perth Test due to a “moderate grade hamstring injury”.
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Cricket Australia confirmed Hazlewood would join the Test squad as planned in Perth ahead of the Ashes opener despite reporting “tightness in his right hamstring”.
“(Hazlewood) underwent precautionary scans which have cleared him of muscle strain,” the CA statement said.
“He will train as planned in the lead up to the first Test in Perth.”
With captain Pat Cummins already ruled out of the Perth Test due to a back injury, the Australian camp would have been holding its breath as Hazlewood underwent scans, while the loss of Abbott has further depleted the team’s bowling stocks.
The average age of Australia’s likely bowling attack for the Ashes opener — Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland and Lyon — is 36. Boland has never played five Tests in a home summer, while Hazlewood was struck down by side and calf injuries during last season’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign.
Since the start of the 2019/20 season, Hazlewood has missed 12 of Australia’s 29 home Tests due to injury.
And although Cummins is hopeful of returning for the second Test against England, a pink-ball contest at the Gabba, that’s far from a certainty.
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The threat of further injury setbacks comes as a boost for all-rounders Cameron Green and Beau Webster, who are both vying for Ashes selection. Green made a successful return to bowling in the Sheffield Shield on Tuesday, producing eight overs on day one of Western Australia’s clash against Queensland at the WACA, while Webster claimed eight wickets during Tasmania’s loss to South Australia in Hobart, including the dismissal of Test players Travis Head and Alex Carey.
Even if there were no further complications to Hazlewood’s hamstring, Australia may feel obliged to pick both Green and Webster for the Ashes opener to ensure all bases are covered should injury intervene yet again.
Asked whether Wednesday’s injury drama showed Australia needed an extra all-rounder in the starting XI, New South Wales captain Steve Smith responded: “Honestly, I haven’t thought that far ahead right now.
”We’ve got it there, don’t we? We’ve got Green, who bowled well from what I’ve heard in their game. And Slug, who took five as well.
“It’s nice to have the options there if we feel we need to go down that path at all.”
Australia could fit two all-rounders in its starting XI if Green and Webster bat at No. 3 and No. 6 respectively, with the in-form Marnus Labuschagne sliding up to opener, denying Tasmanian batter Weatherald a Test debut. Having Webster in the team would also take some pressure off the fragile Green, who before this week had only bowled four overs in professional cricket since undergoing back surgery last summer.
Green batted at first drop during June’s World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s, posting scores of 4 and 0 against the Proteas, but he showed signs of improvement during the recent Frank Worrell Trophy campaign against the West Indies in the Caribbean, averaging 30.66 across the three-match series.
Labuschagne has only opened the batting once at Test level, notching 17 and 22 in the World Test Championship final, but he has cracked two hundreds at the top of the order for Glamorgan in the United Kingdom.
However, Khawaja recently cautioned against reinventing Labuschagne as an opener, arguing the Australian team was at its best with the right-hander at No. 3, where he has scored each of his 11 Test hundreds. Australian legend Greg Chappell echoed those sentiments earlier this week.
If one of Australia’s first-choice quicks were unavailable for selection during the Ashes campaign, whether that be due to injury or workload management, South Australian seamer Brendan Doggett would likely make his Test debut in their absence.
The 31-year-old, who missed the first two rounds of this season’s Sheffield Shield due to a hamstring setback, has taken 13 wickets at 14.69 for the Redbacks this summer, while he claimed 11 scalps during last season’s triumphant final against Queensland in Adelaide.
Should further reinforcements be required, Queensland’s Michael Neser and Victoria’s Fergus O’Neill would come into consideration, while West Australian quick Jhye Richardson will have a chance to press his case over the coming weeks as he returns from injury.
The Ashes haven’t even started, yet fast bowlers Cummins, Abbott, Lance Morris and Spencer Johnson are all out of action. England’s chances of winning back the coveted urn will receive a massive boost if the Australians suffer further casualties.
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