Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nWith Jhye Richardson, who is on the comeback trail, and Fergus O\u2019Neill also producing strong form in an Australia A triumph over the English Lions, the Aussies have plenty of options to consider.<\/p>\n
Nothing demonstrated this better than in Brisbane when, given the match conditions, Australia had the luxury of leaving out its champion off-spinner Lyon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s healthy for any cricket side. What you don\u2019t want is 10 guys or 11 guys and that\u2019s it, that\u2019s all we\u2019ve got. And if someone goes down, we\u2019re in trouble,\u201d Lee told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great and the healthiest thing for Australian cricket right now is that they\u2019ve got almost a second XI or an Australia A side that could come in and play some outstanding cricket too.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys who have had their opportunity, the Doggetts and the Nesers, have stood up. They\u2019ve taken their opportunity and taken it with both hands, which is brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ashes: Test 2, Day Four Highlights | 15:42<\/p>\n
Lee is certain that Australia will make two changes in Adelaide, with Cummins and Lyon coming back in, and said he would select Usman Khawaja if he is fit.<\/p>\n
Australian coach Andrew McDonald reiterated on Tuesday that the national team still valued spin and that the two matches Lyon has missed recently were due to the conditions only.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll make this a headline. We still do value spin,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe surfaces pushed us in different directions. That\u2019s the first game Nathan\u2019s missed in Australia for a long time (dating back to 2012). Has his impact been as great as in previous seasons with the surfaces we are playing on? Potentially not. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe pink ball game created different challenges.We put value on different areas of the game and under lights, to have the ability to have four quicks who will navigate through that night session and be able to keep coming and maintain the pressure there, we felt like that was going to break the game open for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys executed beautifully in that moment and that\u2019s what we built the team around. We got the opportunity and we were able to take that. But I think Nathan\u2019s going to have an incredibly huge impact in the past three Test matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at what he did at the MCG last year, when the surface became benign \u2026 he was able to navigate through that and hold an end, and that is the rhythm we want. We want the spinner down one end and rotating through the three quicks. That is when we feel like we\u2019re at our best.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘Trained too much’ – McCullum | 00:43<\/p>\n
Australia’s Nathan Lyon, left, runs off the field after serving the drinks during the second Ashes cricket test match between Australia and England in Brisbane, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025.. (AP Photo\/Tertius Pickard)Source: AP<\/p>\n
There was a suggestion that Scott Boland, who has taken seven wickets for the series at 32 and bounced back brilliantly from a disappointing opening day in Perth, could be rested in Adelaide, but McDonald dismissed that given the break between the 2nd and 3rd Tests.<\/p>\n
As a result, either Doggett (seven wickets at 30) or Neser, who took six wickets in Brisbane including five in the second innings, could well miss the squad, let alone the Adelaide Test.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately with Nathan Lyon raring to go in Adelaide and obviously Pat Cummings being fully fit, those two bowlers will stand aside because they were in there to cover those two,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it fair on Doggett and Neser? Well, unfortunately, that\u2019s part and parcel of the game of cricket. <\/p>\n
\u201cDoggett probably didn\u2019t get the wickets I thought that he probably could have got, because I was really impressed with him. There was a spell there \u2026 on day three where he bowled in conjunction with Neser and Neser picked up the two caught and bowleds, but Doggett was applying the pressure from the other end, so he\u2019s done what\u2019s been asked from him. He\u2019s had really, really good Test matches with his opportunity. <\/p>\n
\u201cNeser bowled the house down. But they are the second cab off the rank, with all due respect, because you have got Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, who are world class.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skull calls for Kellaway’s Ashes debut | 00:58<\/p>\n
Lee is adamant that Khawaja has earned the right to return if he is fully fit, which would most likely see Travis Head slide back down the order and Josh Inglis miss out in Adelaide.<\/p>\n
McDonald flagged the prospect of Khawaja batting in the middle order, as occurred in Perth when he was not allowed to open due to the time he spent off the field, but Lee suspects the usual order will return at Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Usman\u2019s fit and they back him in, and they want him to play, he\u2019ll go and open again, because I think he\u2019s earned that right,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf they go down the road that he\u2019s passed it and he\u2019s not in our forefront team, well then they\u2019ll have to look at what they do with Head. Do they push him to the middle order and then go with someone else up the top? I don\u2019t think they will. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that if Khawaja is 100 per cent fit, they will give him that opportunity, because he\u2019s earned that right, in my opinion, because of the way he\u2019s played the last four years.\u201d<\/p>\n
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – DECEMBER 07: Brendan Doggett of Australia celebrates dismissing Gus Atkinson of England during day four of the Second 2025\/26 Ashes Series Test Match between Australia and England at The Gabba on December 07, 2025 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a day where champion fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the Ashes due to Achilles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3443,91335,64,63,689,46733,35086,188160,60165,89813,651,188161,188154,3567,188155,188158,188153,60153,44227,188157,124996,29547,44,70420,677,188156,1948,46,174094,701,1934,30179,27750,24571,1124,188162,44867,70541,188152,3439,188159],"class_list":["post-338242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-adelaide","tag-andrew-mcdonald","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-captain","tag-australian-cricket","tag-bowling-options","tag-brendan-doggett","tag-brett-lee","tag-brisbane","tag-champion-fast-bowler","tag-comeback-trail","tag-courtney-walsh","tag-cricket-side","tag-disappointing-opening-day","tag-forefront-team","tag-jhye-richardson","tag-josh-hazlewood","tag-match-conditions","tag-michael-neser","tag-nathan-lyon","tag-news","tag-night-session","tag-oceania","tag-pat-cummings","tag-pat-cummins","tag-perth","tag-pink-ball-game","tag-queensland","tag-scott-boland","tag-selection-news","tag-selection-squeeze","tag-silver-lining","tag-south-australia","tag-spots-silver-lining","tag-travis-head","tag-usman-khawaja","tag-value-spin","tag-western-australia","tag-wicket-wins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338242","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=338242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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