Gold Coast: Marnus Labuschagne is back in Australia’s squad to start the Ashes series, with selectors including the veteran batter Wednesday in a 15-man group for the first cricket test against England.
Labuschagne missed Australia’s three-test series win over the West Indies in the Caribbean in July after a lean run of form, but has regained confidence with some impressive innings in first-class cricket.
Opening batter Jake Weatherald could make his debut in the Nov. 21-25 match in Perth after being selected ahead of Matt Renshaw and Sam Konstas, although that depends on who is chosen to open with Usman Khawaja.
The 31-year-old Weatherald was the leading scorer in the Sheffield Shield tournament last summer with 906 runs at an average of 50.33.
He scored a century for Australia A against Sri Lanka A in a mid-year series.
Steve Smith will lead the Australian lineup in the series opener in the absence of regular skipper Pat Cummins, who is still recovering from a lower back problem.
Scott Boland is expected to join Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in the pace attack, with uncapped Brendan Doggett and Sean Abbott also in the squad as fast bowling options.
All-rounders Beau Webster and Cameron Green have also been included in the squad.
The Australian players have either been involved in first-class cricket with their states to prepare for the Ashes or playing against India in a series of one-day internationals and Twenty20 internationals.
Green’s condition and ability to bowl spells as part of a pace attack will be one of the things selectors will be monitoring in next week’s round of the domestic first-class competition.
“We’ve got 14 out of our 15-man squad playing a round of the Sheffield Shield, still some information to gather from that — Cameron Green returning to the bowling crease being one of them,” selector George Bailey said Wednesday. “We’ll get through these 14 guys playing, get the information and then work on the XI.”
Bailey said selectors would like to see Green bowling between 15 and 20 overs for West Australia against Queensland in Perth to assess his recovery from side soreness.
“That’s pretty close to what you need from your allrounder,” Bailey said. “We’re still 2 1/2 weeks from that first test, so we will build up from there.”
The England squad for the five-test series will be led by Ben Stokes.
Squad:
Steve Smith (captain), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.
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