{"id":370288,"date":"2025-12-25T05:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T05:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/370288\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T05:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T05:01:09","slug":"ashes-2025-australia-leaves-out-a-spinner-in-all-pace-bowling-attack-for-mcg-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/370288\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashes 2025: Australia leaves out a spinner in all-pace bowling attack for MCG Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia will go into the Boxing Day Test without a spinner after picking a 12-man, pace-heavy squad to tackle demoralised England.<\/p>\n

After Nathan Lyon suffered a long-term hamstring injury in the Ashes-clinching win in Adelaide, Victorian offspinner Todd Murphy was called into the squad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But with the MCG pitch having up to 10mm of grass, Australia have opted to leave Murphy out in a bold and historic decision.<\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that’s making headlines.<\/p>\n

Stand-in captain Steve Smith, who returns after a battle with vertigo symptoms, will hold off until the toss on Friday before confirming the XI.<\/p>\n

It will be the third time in Australia’s last five Tests they have not picked a spinner.<\/p>\n

Lyon wasn’t selected for the day-night Test in Jamaica in July, as well as in the Ashes Test in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

But it is a gamble for an Australian team not to select a spinner at the MCG, where the legendary Shane Warne and Lyon have had success.<\/p>\n

“A lot of the wickets we’re playing on at present are certainly more seam-friendly than spin-friendly,” Smith said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“Last week (in Adelaide) was an anomaly; we saw some rough and we saw Nathan come into play, big time.<\/p>\n

“It’s a tricky one.<\/p>\n

“You’ve just got to play what surface you’re presented with, and this one out here looks like it’s going to offer a fair bit of assistance for the seam bowlers.<\/p>\n

\"Todd<\/p>\n

Todd Murphy was called into the wider squad to replace Nathan Lyon. (AAP: Con Chronis)<\/p>\n

“If Nathan was here, we’d probably still be having the same conversation as well.<\/p>\n

“It’s certainly nothing to do with Todd’s skill. We know he’s a quality bowler.”<\/p>\n

Joining Lyon and captain Pat Cummins on the sidelines is Josh Inglis, with quicks Jhye Richardson, Brendan Doggett and Michael Neser included.<\/p>\n

One of those three will miss out.<\/p>\n

Luckless allrounder Beau Webster was an option to replace struggling Cameron Green due to his ability to bowl medium pace and spin.<\/p>\n

But selectors are sticking with Green, who will slide down to bat at No.7 after wicketkeeper Alex Carey’s player-of-the-match 106 and 72 at the Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n

Veteran Usman Khawaja, who turned 39 last week, was preferred to Inglis after making 82 and 40 in the third Test in Adelaide.<\/p>\n

Richardson is in contention to play his first Test in more than four years after a torturous run with injury.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old has impressed when playing for Australia in all three formats, including three Tests.<\/p>\n

“He’s just got a great set of skills,” Smith said. “Swings the ball both ways.<\/p>\n

“Seams it, accurate, a bit more skiddy than some of the others.<\/p>\n

“When he’s had the opportunity at this level, he’s been outstanding.”<\/p>\n

Doggett and Neser played in the second Test in Brisbane, but made way in Adelaide when Cummins and Lyon returned.<\/p>\n

After retaining the Ashes in only 11 days, Australia will look to continue England’s tour of misery by completing a 5-0 whitewash for the first time since 2013-14.<\/p>\n

Australia’s Boxing Day Ashes Test squadTravis HeadJake WeatheraldMarnus LabuschagneSteve Smith (capt)Usman KhawajaAlex CareyCameron GreenMichael NeserMitchell StarcJhye RichardsonBrendan DoggettScott Boland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia will go into the Boxing Day Test without a spinner after picking a 12-man, pace-heavy squad to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13285,64,63,200483,740,1208,22256,18021,29547,85,35235],"class_list":{"0":"post-370288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ashes","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-boxing-day-test-team","12":"tag-cricket","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-josh-inglis","15":"tag-mcg","16":"tag-nathan-lyon","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-steve-smith"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370288","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=370288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}