Confusing demand for next Aus tour; Pom\u2019s \u2018cartoonish\u2019 cafe blunder<\/a><\/p>\nMarnus backs selectors after Gabba test | 02:53<\/p>\n
McDonald said that Cummins had come through a match-like workload in training last week and was ready to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something we\u2019ve done with Pat before with longish layoffs, where we\u2019ve put some time and effort into rebuilding hisbody,\u201d said McDonald. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe simulated pretty much what a match will look like out there with multiple spells. So we feel as though he\u2019ll be as bestprepared as can be.\u201d Mitchell Starc, who leads the bowling charts with 18 wickets in the first two Tests, had battled a leftside niggle at the Gabba but would be fit for Adelaide, said McDonald.<\/p>\n
He will be joined by Nathan Lyon in returning to the Test side.<\/p>\n
Lyon was sensationally left out of the eleven for the second Test with Australia instead electing for an all-out pace attack.<\/p>\n
The veteran off-spinner said was \u201cfilthy\u201d at his omission but will be welcomed back for Adelaide.<\/p>\n
Brendan Doggett and Michael Neser are likely to make way.<\/p>\n
There had been speculation Scott Boland could be rested for the third Test but McDonald put that notion to bed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the pre-planning, which is something we do around the Test matches and work out where the stress points potentially will be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gap between one and two and two and three was something we think we could manage, so it would be more than likely the best balanced and available attack for Adelaide. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo yeah, we wouldn\u2019t be thinking about that someone would need a rest there. It\u2019s probably more so in Test match four and five.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, McDonald also left the door open for Usman Khawaja to potentially return \u2014 even in the middle order \u2014 after being sidelined for the Brisbane Test with back spasms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe assumption is that he can only open,\u201d McDonald said of Khawaja.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think that he does have the flexibility. We like to think that all our batters have the flexibility to be able to perform anywhere in that order. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019ve got a collective group of batters there, that as the series wears on, the opposition may create some different challenges for us. So we\u2019re open to what it will look like for us moving forward. And we\u2019ve got three Test matches to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should Khawaja be recalled it would likely be at the expense of Josh Inglis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Hazlewood will not play a part in the entire Ashes series, with the star Australian fast bowler…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-336471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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