{"id":952324,"date":"2026-11-04T13:20:32","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T13:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/952324\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T13:20:32","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T13:20:32","slug":"cricket-2026-queensland-coach-james-hopes-endorses-jack-claytons-test-call-up-chances-says-emerging-batter-could-play-at-no-3-latest-news-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/952324\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket 2026: Queensland coach James Hopes endorses Jack Clayton\u2019s Test call up chances, says emerging batter could play at No.3, latest news, video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland coach James Hopes believes Jack Clayton could \u201cabsolutely\u201d bat at No.3 for Australia, as the emerging Sheffield Shield prospect\u2019s Test hopes continue to mount.<\/p>\n

The 27-year old has started the domestic season in a rich vein of form, sitting second on the Shield run-scoring charts behind NSW\u2019s Ollie Davies with 303 runs at 75.75. <\/p>\n

He has hit a century and two 50s in four completed innings to go with 37 not out and 10 not out, with his 104 against Victoria coming after Usman Khawaja and Kerry O\u2019Keeffe both threw his name into the mix for a Test berth during Kayo Sports\u2019 coverage of Australia\u2019s third Test loss to South Africa in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

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\u201cClayton gets tough runs,\u201d O\u2019Keeffe said<\/a>, while former Queensland teammate Khawaja was even stronger.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack Clayton … he\u2019s scored six centuries, averaging 38, and no one talks about him,\u201d the former Australian great said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they devalue Sheffield Shield cricket, it frustrates me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clayton\u2019s strong start to the new season follows a 418-run campaign at an average of 38 in the 2025\/26 season, a bowler-dominated campaign nationwide.<\/p>\n

AUSTRALIA\u2019S EIGHT OPTIONS TO REPLACE MARNUS … and one is a genuine bolter<\/a><\/p>\n

Hopes, in his first season as Bulls coach, is equally confident as Khawaja and O\u2019Keeffe that his charge has the game to perform in international cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf given the opportunity to play for Australia, he wouldn\u2019t let anyone down,\u201d the former Australian limited-overs star told CODE Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"JackJack Clayton celebrates his century against Victoria at the Gabba. (Photo by Chris Hyde\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s developed his game to a point where I think it\u2019s pretty easy to say that he could have success at the next level, and you\u2019re probably not going to know until he plays at the next level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he does soon, because he\u2019s performed well enough in tricky situations in Shield cricket now that he deserves the opportunity to have a go.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe scores runs under pressure, when the team needs it the most, he\u2019s calm in run chases, he scores a lot of runs at the Gabba, which is normally a pretty good indicator of a player in Shield cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spot in Australia\u2019s top seven appears all but certain to open up for the first Test against New Zealand in early December, with Marnus Labuschagne a likely omission having scored 0 and 4 in Cape Town to continue his dire form slump.<\/p>\n

While he has primarily batted at No.4 or No.5 for the Bulls, Hopes believes he has the game to replace Labuschagne at first drop should that be his way into the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cCould Jack do it? I absolutely think Jack could bat three,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The former member of the Brisbane Lions\u2019 AFL Academy has been a regular in Queensland\u2019s Shield team since hitting a debut century against Victoria in February 2022.<\/p>\n

While playing just two Big Bash League games for the Brisbane Heat, both when a COVID-19 outbreak required the team to field replacement players, he has seven first-class tons at an average of 39.18.<\/p>\n

For his part, Clayton said he was \u201cthankful\u201d for Khawaja\u2019s support midway through the Bulls\u2019 Shield draw with the Vics at the Gabba.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor him to publicly say that was obviously a nice thing to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main focus is scoring runs for Queensland and that kind of stuff will take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Queenslander has emerged as a genuine Test prospect after an excellent start to the domestic season. (Photo by Chris Hyde\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

However, Hopes isn\u2019t resigned to having Labuschagne back as a permanent member of Queensland\u2019s team for the remainder of the summer, with his Test prospects hanging in the balance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He is confident the veteran will rediscover his best at Shield level, having done so to regain his place for last summer\u2019s Ashes, while also suggesting Labuschagne was \u201cfine\u201d during the first two Tests of the South Africa series.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just finding ways to get out,\u201d Hopes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnically, he was looking OK, and he was getting in the 30s, which is always the toughest part to do, and he just wasn\u2019t kicking on with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to the selectors whether they saw enough in the first couple of Tests to say that he has turned the corner, or whether they\u2019re going to go another direction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland coach James Hopes believes Jack Clayton could \u201cabsolutely\u201d bat at No.3 for Australia, as the emerging Sheffield…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":952325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-952324","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\/952324","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=952324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/952325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}