Australia captain Pat Cummins has confirmed the XI his side will use for the opening ICC World Test Championship contest against Bangladesh in Darwin.
There weren’t too many surprises int he XI that the Aussies selected, with Cameron Green and Beau Webster both winning a spot in the team for the match that commences at Marrara Stadium on Thursday.
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Cummins is joined by fellow quicks Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in a full strength pace attack, with veteran spinner Nathan Lyon also included for the World Test Championship pacesetters.
It means back-up quick Scott Boland misses out on selection alongside keeper-batter Josh Inglis, with Jake Weatherald partnering Travis Head at the top of the Aussies’ batting order and Marnus Labuschagne selected at No.3.
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Cummins said Boland was unlucky to miss selection, but suggested the right-armer would be firmly in the mix over the coming months as Australia prepare for a busy upcoming Test schedule.
“We were pretty certain we wanted Lyono (Lyon) in the side, so (it came down to) working out what the make-up of the quicks were.
“It’s always a pretty tight call. It’s one of those ones where there’s not much you can say to Scotty other than obviously there’s a lot of cricket coming up.
“But he knows his worth and how good he is. I’m sure he’ll be out there at some point pretty soon.”
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Cummins also confirmed Green would bat at No.5 ahead of Carey and Webster as the Aussies look for the right mix with their middle-order.
“Kez (Carey) has won a few games for us at No.6,” Cummins suggested.
“We like that combination of him and Webster at six and seven.
“We feel like Greeny’s a good No.5 – you can try and get funky, but we thought that’s kind of how the team will function the best. Pretty good problem to have when someone like Kez could bat even higher than he is.”
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Australia XI: Jake Weatherald, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Beau Webster, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
First Test: August 13-17, Darwin
Second Test: August 22-26, Mackay
ICC World Test ChampionshipICC World Test Championship, 2025/27News
