Head, Smith revel in remarkable West Test victory

Australia aren’t expecting to make a call on captain Pat Cummins’ availability until the eve of the second Ashes Test but coach Andrew McDonald is hopeful his star quick will be back in the XI for Brisbane.

A lumbar back stress injury ruled Cummins out of the NRMA Insurance Ashes opener in Perth which saw Steve Smith take charge of the side in his absence.

However, Cummins was only missing on the field. He travelled west with the rest of the Aussie squad and had several bowling sessions in the Perth Stadium nets, bowling at close to full intensity in the days leading into the match.

The showing, which troubled some of Australia’s top-order batters, was described by McDonald as someone “that was nearing the completion of his rehabilitation”.

While Australia’s swift two-day victory over England in the first Test has taken some of the pressure off Cummins to be 100 per cent for the day-night fixture at the Gabba on December 4, the early finish has also upset the quick’s planned recovery roadmap.

“He was meant to bowl on day four of the game, so that hasn’t eventuated the way that we would have would have liked for Patty,” McDonald told reporters on Monday.

“He’s just slid that bowling date back with the travel in between … it has slid from a Monday bowl to a Tuesday bowl.

“Once we see him there again, we’ll be able to then join the dots as to what that (return) potentially looks like.

“It will be a genuine discussion leading into this Test match and that may be one that eventuates late for us.

(“There’s still) a little bit to work through but it’s nearing completion (and) it’s really, really positive.

“Does the result change anything? No. I can say that now that we’ve won the game.

“Would there have been extra sort of pressures in terms of going one-nil down? Potentially.”

Australia v England | First Ashes Test | Day Two

McDonald also shot down speculation that another injured fast bowler, Josh Hazlewood, will take no further part in the series with a serious hamstring injury.

Hazlewood picked up the injury playing for New South Wales in the final round of the Sheffield Shield before the blockbuster bout, a match in which fellow Ashes-squad member Sean Abbott also hurt his hamstring.

The coach was confident that Hazlewood would feature towards the back-end of the five-match contest.

“I don’t think he’s out for the whole series,” McDonald said with a chuckle.

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“He’s working through first week of his rehab … once he gets further down the track, then we’ll be in a position to communicate (updates).

“He’ll be available at some point in the series.”

Filling Cummins and Hazlewood’s positions in the XI were debutant Brendan Doggett, who claimed five wickets on an impressive first outing, and Scott Boland, who played a key role on day two.

Boland was Australia’s most expensive bowler in the first innings, conceding 62 runs from his 10 overs with England’s batters driving him down the ground with regularity.

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But Boland, whose performances were under scrutiny by sections of the English media after his 2023 campaign which yielded two wickets in two Tests at an average of 115.50, was following the coaching staff’s directions to “get it full” on day one.

“He was a little bit full and got driven down the ground,” McDonald said.

“Maybe those plans potentially didn’t suit Scotty. I don’t think bowled badly.

“They played him well and potentially we over-pitched at times. That was part of our plan so maybe we got that wrong from coaching perspective.”

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The second innings for Boland was a different story. He took 3-3 in the midst of a four-over spell after the lunch break, turning the game with the wickets of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook.

McDonald said with more swing and movement on offer compared to the first innings, Boland was able to able to settle into his preferred channel on the “seven-to-eight metre length”, bringing results for the Victorian.  

While Boland’s fortunes took a positive turn, the same can’t be said for England’s vaunted high-pace attack.

According to stats provider CricViz, England’s average speed on day one was 87.6mph/141kph, their highest in any Test innings since bowling speeds records began in 2006.

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Mark Wood cleared the 150kph barrier in his two short spells, while Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse were sending down deliveries in the mid-to-high-140s.

Their collective pace and aggression made scoring difficult for the Aussies – it took the hosts 24 overs to reach 50 in the first innings – but when asked to back it up the following day, there was far less fizz and venom on the English deliveries.

While Wood still hit 144kph on day two, he bowled only three overs and appeared to be put on ice by captain Ben Stokes as the result began to look inevitable.

Carse consistently maintained speeds in the high-130s but worryingly for the tourists, Archer and Atkinson were both clocked below 130kph during their second spells on Saturday.

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England will now have to weigh up whether or not to approach the pink-ball Test with the same all-pace quartet or look to change things up at one of their historically worst Aussie venues.

The English have won four times in 22 attempts at the Gabba, with their most recent victory coming in 1986. 

In fast-bowling reserve they have 27-year-old Matthew Potts and 28-year-old Josh Tongue or they could go for a more traditional structure and select spinner Shoaib Bashir.

The tall off-spinner was the unlucky 12th  player in the tourists’ first Test squad but he was left out in favour of the quicks.

As it played out, there were only three overs of spin bowled in Perth.

The Australians haven’t completely ruled out the possibility of leaving out their own off-spinner either, after a precedence was set during the third Test in the West Indies over winter.

Nathan Lyon was dropped for Boland in Australia’s most recent day-nighter in Jamaica in July, which saw WI bundled out for 27 in the fourth innings with Boland grabbing a hat-trick.

It was the first time Lyon had been left out of the Test XI for something not injured related in 12 years, but McDonald pointed to the extreme conditions in the Caribbean rather than a blanket methodology for the team.

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“When we get there, we’ll look at the conditions, the pink ball and how it goes,” McDonald said of the Gabba.   

“If you looked at Australian pink-ball cricket in general terms, the middle sessions have been quite benign, and Nathan’s done a lot of work there.

“So I think to jump to the conclusion that you’d automatically assume that it’s going to be another bowler-dominated game, we can’t make those assumptions.”

Lyon has captured 52 Test wickets at the Gabba, only at the Adelaide Oval (63) has he taken more, with each one coming at 28.82 runs apiece. 

2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes

First Test: Australia win by eight wickets

Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT

Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT

Australia squad (first Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood