Australia keep faith in opening bat, recall big guns
Steve Larkin |
Opening bat Jake Weatherald has retained his spot in Australia’s Test squad for the looming series against Bangladesh.
Weatherald, despite a middling Ashes campaign last summer, is among a 13-man squad bolstered by the return of a trio of big guns.
Captain Pat Cummins, paceman Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon all return from injury for the start of Australia’s gruelling schedule of 21 Tests in 12 months.
The Australians host Bangladesh in Darwin from August 13-17 and Mackay from August 22-26.
Missing from the squad for the final Test against England last January are Usman Khawaja (retired), Michael Neser, Todd Murphy and Brendan Doggett.
Weatherald will resume his opening batting partnership with Travis Head after playing all five Tests against England, when the Darwin-born left-hander made 201 runs at an average of 22.33.
“There were moments in that Ashes series where we liked the combination of what Jake and Travis were able to bring and what that looked like as a collective,” Australia’s chairman of selectors George Bailey told reporters on Tuesday.
“And then also individually what Jake at his best looked like within that series.
“Hopefully we do see some growth out of that and some understanding of what it takes for success at Test level.”
Skipper Cummins has played just one Test since July last year because of stress fractures in his back.
The skipper returned for the third Test against England in Adelaide, when Lyon suffered a severe hamstring tear that required surgery.
Hazlewood was ruled out of the Ashes series in December due to hamstring and Achilles injuries.
“There has been some adjustments to both his training and some of his physical prep to try and alleviate some of those setbacks he has had,” Bailey said.
And while Steve Smith has consistently maintained he is a series-by-series proposition, Bailey said after discussions with the star batsman ‘I don’t think I have seen him as excited or invigorated around the opportunities and challenges this Test team have over the next period of time’.
“He’s probably not on his lonesome there,” he said.
“For those guys that have played a lot of Test cricket … there’s some really big, key series and a chance, I think, for this team to really lay down a marker across a number of different conditions as well.”
Australia’s Test schedule includes away series against South Africa, India and England.
AAP