{"id":367716,"date":"2025-12-24T00:10:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/367716\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T00:10:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:10:21","slug":"the-ashes-jhye-richardson-todd-murphy-called-into-australias-fourth-test-squad-but-no-corey-rocchiccioli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/367716\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ashes: Jhye Richardson & Todd Murphy called into Australia\u2019s Fourth Test squad, but no Corey Rocchiccioli"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jhye Richardson is a step closer to ending his four-year hiatus from Test cricket, with the WA quick named in a 15-man Australian squad for Boxing Day as Pat Cummins was officially ruled out.<\/p>\n

But there was no such luck for fellow West Aussie Corey Rocchiccioli, who was overlooked as Nathan Lyon\u2019s spin replacement in favour of Todd Murphy.<\/p>\n

Richardson joins Second Test star Michael Neser and fellow quick Brendan Doggett in the Aussie squad, with one of that trio set to be named alongside Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland in the XI for Friday.<\/p>\n

The whippy paceman last played Test cricket this week four years ago, and is on the comeback trail following shoulder surgery that has sidelined him for much of the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

Lyon will have surgery on his torn right hamstring, opening the door for a return for Murphy. The 25-year-old made the most recent of his seven Test appearances in last summer\u2019s tour of Sri Lanka, and is set to play his first Test on home soil in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

His call-up will mark somewhat of a repeat of history after he replaced an injured Lyon as Australia\u2019s spinner midway through the most recent Ashes series in England two years ago.<\/p>\n

\"ToddCamera IconTodd Murphy replaced an injured Nathan Lyon during the 2023 Ashes. Credit: Ryan Pierse\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Rocchiccioli and Queensland veteran Mitchell Swepson had been considered in contention for a squad berth, having taken 20 and 21 Sheffield Shield wickets respectively to lead all spinners this season. Five-Test left-arm orthodox spinner Matt Kuhnemann was also in the frame.<\/p>\n

The call comes after former Australia coach Justin Langer made the case for Rocchiccioli to earn a debut, arguing Murphy and Kuhnemann were \u201cbetter suited to sub-continent conditions than here in Australia\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cRocchiccioli is tall, gets bounce and is a student of the game,\u201d Langer wrote in The West Australian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time he bowled as a net bowler to Steve Smith, the batting maestro looked me straight in the eyes and said, \u2018this kid is a gun, he will play for Australia. He has the best shape of an off spinner I have seen since Lyno\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was high praise back then. It caught a few of us by surprise, but the kid who \u201cis a gun\u201d, is an even better bowler now. He is ready to be selected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PatCamera IconPat Cummins won\u2019t feature in the Boxing Day Test. Credit: Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Cummins will be rested, as he flagged in the immediate aftermath of the win in Adelaide, meaning Australia\u2019s skipper will have played in just one of the first four Ashes Tests.<\/p>\n

Steve Smith is set to return to captain the side in Cummins\u2019 absence after his last-minute withdrawal from the Third Test due to vertigo.<\/p>\n

His inclusion will likely force out either Usman Khawaja or Josh Inglis from Australia\u2019s middle order. Khawaja was originally left out of the Adelaide side, but impressed with the bat after earning a late reprieve, joining Player of the Match Alex Carey as the only players to reach 40 in both innings.<\/p>\n

Richardson\u2019s call-up to the Test squad will likely mean he misses the Perth Scorchers\u2019 Big Bash clash against Hobart at Optus Stadium on Boxing Day night. The 29-year-old took 1-49 in his BBL return last week.<\/p>\n

AUSTRALIAN SQUAD<\/p>\n

Steve Smith (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jhye Richardson is a step closer to ending his four-year hiatus from Test cricket, with the WA quick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-367716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sport","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367716","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=367716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}