Huge Aussie reshuffle tipped for Test final, Ashes as India tour poses big questions

Australia has qualified for the World Test Championship final in England, but the make-up of their starting XI remains up for debate amid a dramatic Test tour of India.

After defeating India by nine wickets in Indore last week, Australia cemented its place in the competition finale at The Oval, facing either India or Sri Lanka at The Oval from June 7. The Ashes series then gets underway at Edgbaston the following week.

Due to the vastly different conditions in England, Australia will almost certainly revert to a three-pace attack for the England tour, with Nathan Lyon the lone spinner. Josh Hazlewood is nursing an Achilles injury, while Australian captain Pat Cummins was ruled out of the last two Tests against India due to a family health matter, but both seamers would be selected for the WTC final if available.

Todd Murphy may squeeze into the Ashes squad as a reserve spinner, but Australia only flew one tweaker over to England in 2019.

Australian spin coach Daniel Vettori believes Murphy is capable of taking wickets in all conditions.

“I think that’s where you take confidence – that he can bowl the side spin, he can bowl the overspin like Nathan, he can chop and change between those roles,” he told reporters on Monday.

“I think you get the confidence that he can transition into all style of pitches all around the world.”

The biggest question mark lingers over David Warner — the veteran opener missed the third and fourth Tests against India due to an elbow fracture he sustained in Delhi, but his form remains cause for concern.

The 36-year-old has passed fifty just once in his most recent 15 Test knocks — albeit reaching 200 on that occasion — but his double century during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa appears to have been an anomaly rather than a long-awaited return to form.

Warner’s struggles in England are well-documented — the New South Welshman has averaged 26.04 in 13 Tests, with no centuries to his name.

Stuart Broad tormented the left-hander during his most recent Ashes tour in 2019, dismissing him seven times in 10 innings as Warner averaged 9.50 across five Tests.

Former Australian coach Darren Lehmann suggested Warner could find success as a middle-order batter in England.

“I thought in the last Ashes series he should bat down at five or six, something different, because he can really expose their bowling down the order,” Lehmann told SENQ’s Pat & Heals on Tuesday.

“If he’s not succeeding at the top, could bat down, you could swap Warner and (Travis) Head. Sometimes you’ve got to think outside the box to see who’s going to succeed.

“Broad and (James) Anderson are going to be quite difficult and Warner’s struggled with that in England, so whether they get him there or not will be a selectors’ call.

“My gut feel is they’ll take him in the squad (for the Ashes), but will they play him? I’m not so sure.

“But if you take him in the squad you might as well play him, or don’t take him at all.”

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting believes Warner missed the perfect chance for a fairytale retirement during the recent home Test summer, but he expects him to get another crack at the top of the order in the World Test Championship final.

“I thought the absolute best time for Davey to retire, if he was thinking about it at all, was after the Sydney Test match here in Australia,” Ponting told the ICC Review podcast.

“He’d just played his 100th Test in Melbourne, and obviously got 200 in the first innings down there. And to bow out in front of his home crowd is obviously the way that every player would like to finish their careers.

“Who knows now that opportunity might not come around again for Davey, you know. That’s nearly another 12 months away.

“I think it’d be fitting if he could do that, finish in front of his home crowd. But he’s going to have to play really well between now and then for that to happen.

“I don’t think it’s the end of David Warner … I think they’ll definitely want to play him in the World Test Championship match.

“I think they’ll bring him back for that one game and if he does well there he’ll probably start the Ashes and see where we go from there.

“They have got some really big decisions to make, leading into the Ashes as well. A bit like some of the selection issues they had coming to India.

“They’re probably going to have similar things to think about when they get to the UK because David’s record in the UK is not as strong as it is in some other places around the world.”

Warner is adamant he’s still the right man for the job, and there’s no obvious successor bashing down the door for Test selection.

Former Test opener Cameron Bancroft has been impressive in the Sheffield Shield this summer — the West Australian is currently the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 825 runs at 63.46, including four centuries in nine matches, but fans are divided on whether he deserves another chance at Test level.

Matthew Renshaw is another contender, but the Queenslander may have fallen out of favour with national selectors following recent poor performances in India.

Travis Head has opened the batting during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Warner’s absence, top-scoring for Australia in the second innings at both Delhi and Indore, but the South Australian is not considered a long-term option at the top of the order. The left-hander has only opened the batting five times at first-class level, and his batting technique would be tested against the swinging Duke ball.

Head would therefore return to the middle order, potentially pushing Peter Handscomb out of the starting XI.

Handscomb, recalled to the Test side last month as a horse-for-courses selection, has been one of Australia’s most impressive batters in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but the Victorian could find himself carrying the drinks in England this winter.

The 31-year-old has one final chance in Ahmedabad to convince national selectors he deserves to retain his spot in the Test side.