Ponting backs Weatherald debut, picks Doggett for first Ashes Test

Australia legend Ricky Ponting has outlined his preferred Playing XI for the opening Ashes Test against England, starting in Perth on Friday, backing Jake Weatherald for a debut and selecting Brendan Doggett to bolster an injury-hit pace attack.

Australia’s preparations for the marquee series have been disrupted by injuries to frontline quicks Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, both ruled out of the first Test, along with back-up pacer Sean Abbott. With team balance and available resources in mind, Ponting’s suggested line-up features one debutant and a reshuffled bowling group.

Advertisement

“I feel that Australia’s best team has Jake Weatherald opening the batting along with (Usman) Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne at three,” Ponting said on The ICC Review.

“He’s (Labuschagne) done absolutely everything that’s been asked of him over the last month, scoring hundreds at will, coming back into the side at No.3. Steve Smith (at) four, Travis Head (at) five, Cameron Green (at) six, Carey (at) seven.

“With (Scott) Boland, (Mitchell) Starc, probably Doggett gets the nod ahead of Michael Neser and Nathan Lyon, who was always going to play anyway, I think that will be Australia’s team,” he added.

Ponting said the sequence of injuries had complicated the selection picture. The loss of Hazlewood to a hamstring strain as he nears 300 Test wickets is a major setback. His absence, combined with that of Cummins, leaves Boland, Starc and Doggett as the frontline fast bowling options, with Michael Neser added to the squad as cover.

“If you had asked me this (to pick the XI) a week ago, my thoughts might have been slightly different. Obviously, we’ve had Josh Hazlewood go down with that hamstring strain, it seems like, in the last (Sheffield) Shield game that he played. Brendan Doggett is already in the squad, he’s been called in. Michael Neser has also been called into the squad now,” Ponting said.

“So a week ago, I felt that they were going to play Jake Weatherald as the opener and Labuschagne at No.3 and that Doggett would probably just come in, Boland comes in the absence of Pat Cummins. But now things could be different.

“The fact that Hazelwood is not there, they’ll have Starc, Boland, probably Doggett. Do they now think that they might need some more bowling cover as far as the all-rounders are concerned?

“Do they now think they might need Beau Webster to be in that side as well. So there are a lot of questions that I am not really sure what the outcome or the answer is,” he added.

Ponting noted that with a full-strength attack, Cameron Green’s bowling workload would have been easily manageable. Green impressed in Western Australia’s recent Shield fixture, smashing 94 and taking a wicket in a lively spell.

“If they had their full strength bowling group, Cameron Green, having got through the Shield game last week, I think they would have been more than comfortable going into a Perth Test with him as the all-rounder that could bowl eight, 10, 12 overs in an innings,” Ponting said.

But Hazlewood’s absence has brought Beau Webster firmly into consideration, especially after his standout eight-wicket haul for Tasmania, which included figures of 5/50 in the first innings.

“Beau Webster in this last Shield game as well, missed out with the bat in both innings but picked up eight wickets with the ball. So he’s also thrown a bit of a spanner into the works there as far as selection is concerned,” Ponting said.

Australia begin the first of five Ashes Tests, part of the ICC World Test Championship at Perth Stadium from Friday.