Australia’s historic first for Test team as two debutants named

Perth: Australia’s desire to return Marnus Labuschagne to his preferred No.3 batting position started the chain reaction that ensured Jake Weatherald and Brendan Doggett will debut in the first Ashes Test in Perth.

By choosing Doggett in place of the injured Josh Hazlewood, Australia will have two Indigenous players in the Test XI for the first time, a point of great pride for both the debutant and his pace bowling partner Scott Boland. The pair toured England together with an Indigenous team in 2018.

“Representing the Australian Indigenous people is something I’m very proud of and feel like it’s a great opportunity to be a face and an example,” Doggett said this week. “The numbers are increasing and that’s the biggest thing for us, if we can inspire some young Indigenous kids to try and play for Australia, that’s the goal.”

Weatherald’s selection will mean Labuschagne bats at No.3 on his return to the Test team, while Cameron Green edged out Beau Webster as the all-rounder.

Stand-in captain Steve Smith confirmed the XI on Thursday, and explained that while Webster was extremely unlucky, Labuschagne’s return to run-making form and confidence meant that much of the selection picture revolved around him.

“Very tricky, he came into international cricket and lit it up immediately,” Smith said of Webster. “It’s a tough one on him, but I think Marnus, when he’s batting at his best at No.3, makes us a very, very good cricket side.

“We couldn’t really leave him out after he came back and did exactly what was [asked] of him. The way he’s batted in Shield and one-day cricket for Queensland the last few weeks has been amazing, so when he’s batting well it’s tough to leave him out.”

Australia’s selectors needed to be assured of Green’s fitness to be the sole all-rounder a year on from his back surgery, but once that had been underlined by his sharp pace in a recent Sheffield Shield game the balance of the side started to fall into place.

While Webster is unfortunate to miss out following solid contributions in all of his six Tests so far, he has always been considered a role player behind the longer-term investment in Green. Last summer Webster entered the squad as a back-up for Mitchell Marsh, before replacing him in Sydney.

Weatherald has been chosen as the ideal complement to Usman Khawaja’s more sedate style at the top, while Labuschagne will be most comfortable at three and captain Smith at four.

“I watched him bat in the nets pretty closely the last few days and pretty tricky nets, fast, bouncy and a lot of seam, and he’s got a lot of courage,” Smith said of Weatherald. “He just goes in there, I don’t think he faces the side arms or anything.

“He wants to face bowlers the entire time, and the guys were charging in, bowling fast, so he took them on, he was getting in really good positions. He’s been selected for his performances over the past 18 months in particular, he’s batted exceptionally well up the top of the order for Tasmania, and hopefully he can bring that to the Test arena.”

Doggett, who has been the outstanding bowler in domestic cricket over the past couple of years, bowls at high pace and can swing the ball, in addition to bowling a testing bouncer.

“He gets the ball down at nice pace, stands the seam up, his lengths are really good, so everything you need for a surface like that out there,” Smith said of Doggett.

“Brendan’s been on a few tours with Australia, he’s very skilful, I think he’s improved a hell of a lot the last few years and I’m excited to see him go about his business.

“Hopefully whenever we bowl he can get the ball in the areas we know that he can, and if he does that I’m sure he’s going to create plenty of chances.”

England have named a 12 for the game, with one of spinner Shoaib Bashir or fast man Brydon Carse to miss out, with speedsters Jofra Archer and Mark Wood both set to play.

Australian team: Jake Weatherald, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett.

England 12: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wk), Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir.