{"id":857681,"date":"2026-08-16T20:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T20:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857681\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T20:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T20:50:13","slug":"cricket-news-2026-pat-cummins-press-conference-first-test-defeat-against-bangladesh-marnus-labuschagne-jake-weatherald-form-campbell-kellaway-ollie-peake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857681\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket news 2026: Pat Cummins press conference, first Test defeat against Bangladesh; Marnus Labuschagne, Jake Weatherald form; Campbell Kellaway, Ollie Peake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pat Cummins<\/a> admitted there\u2019s a \u201ctrend\u201d with his side\u2019s faltering batting order as calls for change grow after the first Test loss against Bangladesh<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Jake Weatherald<\/a>, Marnus Labuschagne<\/a> and Cameron Green<\/a> were the three men under the most pressure for runs and only the latter could answer his critics with a brilliant second-innings ton. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pat Cummins leads the Australian team off the field.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Weatherald scored 23 in the first innings and was caught behind with a shot he\u2019d like to forget before he chopped on for a duck in the second dig. <\/p>\n

As for Labuschagne, his first innings dismissal was reminiscent of many before when he edged to second slip for 1. In the second innings he looked much better for 31 until he was bowled by Taijul Islam. <\/p>\n

The frustration was clear with Labuschagne\u2019s dismissal as Steve Smith constantly shook his head down the other end. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how Marnus has missed this,\u201d David Warner said on Fox\u2019s commentary. <\/p>\n

Now all eyes will be on Australia\u2019s selections for the second Test in Mackay and Cummins conceded there will be a consideration for change. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a balance of it\u2019s one Test, but it\u2019s also a bit of a trend as well, so trying to work out do you need to intervene now, or let it play out, and you think it\u2019s the way forward,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the question over the next couple of days, we\u2019ll sit down and have a think, selectors will have a think, is there something there that\u2019s going to take us forward, or is it starting to become a trend that, we think, needs to be changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cummins also admitted the batting group is \u201cnot quite functioning\u201d right now. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m sure the batters will get together and talk, review some footage, review methods, their approaches to how they were this week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we need to make some changes to our style, we\u2019ve got a week or so and we better do it pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the start of day four, Ricky Ponting continued his call for change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it ends up being an embarrassing defeat, then I think it\u2019s inevitable they have to make change,\u201d he said on Seven. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was on the record last summer thinking this was the ideal time to start to regenerate this team. I\u2019m the last one wanting to make change, as a captain I wanted to keep the group together, it has to get to a bad point before I start saying I want to leave anyone out. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Campbell Kellaway.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cThere had been enough evidence coming in to suggest they weren\u2019t going to lose anything or much at all by starting that regeneration by maybe bringing in another opener and somebody at three.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the Test on day one, Ponting revealed his desire was to have Campbell Kellaway and Ollie Peake blooded into the side. <\/p>\n

Kellaway missed an opportunity to make an early statement when he played against Bangladesh in the warm-up match for the CA XI and scored a duck. <\/p>\n

Last season in the Sheffield Shield he scored 509 runs at 26.78 but at 23 years old, his potential has set him apart from others. <\/p>\n

Australia hasn\u2019t been afraid to blood youngsters before, with Warner a successful example. <\/p>\n

Peake is also a heralded youngster, having debuted for Australia in ODI cricket at 19. He scored 323 runs in the Shield last year at 23.07.<\/p>\n

Those numbers expose the problem for Australia, with not enough batting depth throughout the country, hence Labuschagne\u2019s long run in the side. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Marnus Labuschagne blew two chances at the crease to cement his spot in the Test team.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

But the upcoming decision for selectors will have to be brave. And Australian fans would have to be patient because the results won\u2019t be perfect. <\/p>\n

The reality is Australia has a tough run of fixtures ahead, starting with a Test series in South Africa. <\/p>\n

The question will be: do Weatherald and Labuschagne deserve even more patience or is it time to take a gamble despite tours of India and England coming up?<\/p>\n

Kellaway and Peake aren\u2019t the only options. <\/p>\n

Matt Renshaw is only 30 and could fill the opener\u2019s spot, with Matthew Hayden a strong supporter. Renshaw scored 499 runs at 49.90 in Shield cricket last season.<\/p>\n

Nathan McSweeney is the other name to consider. He was given a baptism of fire in his Test career, having to open against Indian superstar Jasprit Bumrah and quickly being bowled out of the team. <\/p>\n

McSweneey has always been a No.4 but if he wants to return to Test cricket, Labuschagne\u2019s spot at three could be his. <\/p>\n

\"Nathan<\/p>\n

Nathan McSweeney.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Cummins has always maintained he\u2019s not big on batting orders and repeated that stance again after the Bangladesh loss. <\/p>\n

In this season of County cricket, McSweeney has played for division two side Northamptonshire and scored 589 runs at 49.08. <\/p>\n

His time may come in South Africa, and if it does it\u2019s time to pick and stick with the 27-year-old. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pat Cummins admitted there\u2019s a \u201ctrend\u201d with his side\u2019s faltering batting order as calls for change grow after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-857681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857681","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=857681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}