 "Steve Smith, who missed the Adelaide test due to a bout of vertigo, is back for the Boxing Day Test. Reuters")
Steve Smith is back at the helm of the Australian side as the hosts announced a 12-man squad for the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne that starts Boxing Day. Pacer Jhye Richardson has also been recalled to the side after a gap of four years.
Australia have yet again named an all-pace bowling attack with Todd Murphy not finding a place in the squad. Murphy was added to the team after lead spinner Nathan Lyon injured his hamstring in Australia’s win at Adelaide which sealed the Ashes in their favour.
Usman Khawaja to bat at No. 5
Australia continued with Usman Khawaja in their side while Josh Inglis was dropped. Khawaja was a late addition to the side that won in Adelaide. He was included only after Smith was ruled out due to vertigo. Khawaja responded with a gritty 82 and 40 in the Test match.
“(It was) fortunate that Usman was able to come in and play the way he did in that first innings. We all thought he played really nicely last week. He’s putting the pressure on when he needed to, and he absorbed it when he needed to. He’s got that No.5 spot right now," Smith said at the pre-match conference.
Selection as per pitch, says Smith
Smith, who will be captaining in the last two matches as Pat Cummins has been ruled out due to injury , said the decision to not include any spinner was because of the pitch in Melbourne which is expected to be seam friendly.
“You just got to play what surface you’re presented with,” Smith said. “The pitch has 10mm of grass, quite furry, quite green. I dare say it’s going to offer similar conditions to today, quite cold and overcast. So, there’s going to be quite a bit of movement. This one looks like it’s going to offer a fair bit of assistance for the seam bowlers, and the weather throughout the week looks conducive for that too."
Australia’s squad for 4th Ashes Test
Travis Head, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson