Australian Test captain Pat Cummins conceded yesterday that Josh Hazlewood may not be right to go for the Adelaide Test, leaving the door open for a couple of hopefuls.
“I think a key is we don’t want to put him in jeopardy for the whole series,” Cummins said.
“We’ll take our time. He had a scan last night so we’ll kind of work through that.”
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Hazlewood’s replacement shapes as either Michael Neser or Jhye Richardson, the latter of whom was the 12th man for the Brisbane Test.
“It’s tough, isn’t it?” former Test captain Mark Taylor told Wide World of Sports.
“If you’re looking like for like, Michael Neser’s probably a little more like Hazlewood, and you’d probably say that Jhye Richardson’s a bit more like a Pat Cummins.
“If it were Starc or Cummins who were out, I think Richardson would be straight in, particularly as he was the 12th man for this Test. But with Neser taking five wickets, and he’s a bit more of that stump-to-stump, slight-outswing bowler, he’ll come into consideration.
“But it would be tough not to give Richardson the first crack as he was the 12th man.”
At the other end of the line-up, eyebrows were raised about David Warner’s short-term future in the team when he didn’t head out to bat in the final innings, Australia instead sending Alex Carey out to open.
Cummins said that was just a precautionary measure.
“We didn’t want to risk him, but I think he’ll be right for Adelaide,” Cummins said.
If Warner can’t go, Taylor said that Warner’s replacement would not be Henry Hunt nor Bryce Street, despite their solid performances in Australia A’s match against the Lions.
“I don’t think you’re picking one of those two,” Taylor said.
“(Usman) Khawaja is someone who’s been there and done that, rather than rushing another debutant in, particularly when you’ve got Marcus Harris who’s still trying to make his name also.
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“I think it’s either obviously Khawaja, or the only rabbit out of a hat I could see is Matt Renshaw.”
Taylor said Harris was placed in a tough spot in the fourth innings at the Gabba, walking out as an opener with victory all but secured in advance.
“When you think about it, you really can’t win,” Taylor said of chasing a tiny target in the fourth innings.
“Fortunately he hit the winning runs, which was great, but he got an inside edge that was almost LBW and you really feel for him in that setting, because you can’t get enough runs to keep the critics at bay.
“All you can do is give them more ammunition.”