Khawaja bats long as Cummins prepares to name XI for batting-friendly deck

Adelaide: Usman Khawaja was the second-last Australian player in the nets on Monday as returning captain Pat Cummins prepared to name the team to try to seal the Ashes, on an Adelaide Oval pitch that looks the friendliest batting surface of the series so far.

Jake Weatherald, Travis Head and Khawaja all trained against the new ball at what was billed as the team’s main training session for the week, and Josh Inglis also spent solid time in the nets as he waited to find out if he would be tipped out by Khawaja’s return. The last man batting was allrounder Cameron Green.

Steve Smith, however, spent the afternoon in the dressing room because he felt unwell. Smith intends to bat again on match eve, when Cummins is expected to announce his XI.

Nathan Lyon, meanwhile, insists he has nothing to prove after his shock omission from the Australian team in Brisbane and is eyeing the “fairytale” of surpassing Glenn McGrath’s career tally of 563 Test wickets in the third Test at Adelaide Oval – a venue he believes is the “best in the world” and with which he has a deep personal connection.

Adelaide curator Damian Hough on Monday launched a passionate defence of spin bowling, maintaining it was incumbent on Australia’s turf custodians to ensure slow bowlers are not squeezed out of the game by an over-abundance of green pitches.

Australia made a surprise call to leave Lyon out of the team for the second Test at the Gabba, instead opting for Michael Neser as a fourth seam bowler. Lyon admitted on the day he was “filthy” at that decision, but selection chair George Bailey virtually guaranteed on the spot that the veteran tweaker would be recalled immediately in Adelaide.

With Cricket Australia needing a bumper Ashes summer to help bring the budget back into surplus for the first time since 2019, Hough denied he had been pressured to produce a pitch that would take the game into day five.

If Lyon were captain, however, the call would be simple.

“You’re asking a spinner whether I want to bowl on day one or day five on a wearing wicket?” Lyon said with a laugh. “I’m not a captain. I’m not sure what Pat’s thinking or Steve’s thinking, but yeah, I’d be batting first.”

Hough admitted that hot weather in the South Australian capital this week, with temperatures forecast to reach 38 degrees on day two (Thursday), will mean he leaves a little more moisture in the pitch than usual.

“I don’t want to be the curator at Adelaide where you don’t pick a spinner,” Hough said. “Spin needs to play a part here, it always has.

“Even last year when [Lyon] didn’t bowl a lot of overs, I felt that the pitch would have spun, but they were able to take wickets with the quicks. But spin needs to play a part in pitches around Australia, and we want it to play a part.”

Monday was also a special occasion for Lyon, who was inducted into Adelaide Oval’s ‘Avenue of Honour’ on the western side of the ground. A blown-up image of Lyon from the 2014 Test against India – when he took 12 wickets for the match – formed the backdrop for a packed press conference two days out from the third Test.

Hough, for whom Lyon once worked as a curator, watched on proudly from behind the cameras, aware the off-spinner may not play many more Tests at his favoured venue.

This will be Lyon’s 15th Test in Adelaide, with only Ricky Ponting (17) and Allan Border (16) having played more at the venue. A veteran of 140 Tests in the baggy green, his omission from two of Australia’s past three matches – both pink-ball fixtures – came as a surprise.

“Obviously, it was pretty disappointing personally,” Lyon said. “I’ve played 140 Test matches. I feel like I don’t have a point to prove to anyone. I’m very clear on my role within this Australian cricket team. My dream is to continue to play cricket for Australia. No one’s got a given right to be selected. You’ve got to work your backside off to put your hand up for selection.

“There was a lot of disappointment, but there’s no point looking back now.”

Lyon is adamant spin bowling should continue to play a central role in Australian cricket.

“It’s incredibly important,” Lyon said. “I’ve always said, As soon as the ball spins, there’s more eyes on TVs. When we go over to India … the exciting cricket is when the ball is spinning.

“Spin’s incredibly important in the game of cricket – in junior cricket, in first-class cricket, in white ball, red ball … it doesn’t matter what format. It’s probably the hardest craft to do.”

Lyon sits one wicket shy of McGrath’s career tally – the second highest by an Australian bowler – having been stuck on 562 since July 6, when he took the final wicket of the second Test against the West Indies in Grenada.

“I daresay it might be a little fairytale given my history working here,” Lyon said. “It was the dream. My first Test match was on the roller here in 2010-11. To overtake Glenn McGrath would be pretty incredible.”

The pitch is highly unlikely to resemble the batting paradise prepared for the last red-ball Ashes Test played here in 2013-14, when, as Hough observed, it was largely through the express pace of Mitchell Johnson that the game did not peter out into a draw.

“Back then we were trying to get the old type of pitch where it would break up and stay low on days four and five,” Hough said. “The drop-ins don’t deteriorate like the old square used to. So since 2015 we’ve left more grass, and we’ve felt there’s been a much better contest for us.”

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