Australia name unchanged squad for Boxing Day Test
by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on Tue, 20 Dec, 2016, 12:36 AM
The first Test between Australia and Pakistan at the Gabba, Brisbane had its fair share of twists and turns before the visitors lost the match by just 39 runs. Pakistan, who were bundled out for a mere 142 in the first innings, put up a spirited fight in the second essay to aggregate the third-highest fourth-innings score in the history of Test cricket.
Australia announced the same squad that won the first match against Pakistan for the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), commencing on Friday (December 26). Steve Smith, the Australia captain, however, said that the selection panel are still thinking of adding an all-rounder in order to reduce the workload on the home team's four-man attack. The last time Australia picked a five-bowler attack was in the first Test against South Africa in Perth when Mitchell Marsh played as the fifth bowler.
As the pace trio of Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird and Mitchell Starc bowled 155 overs in total in the first Test, there is also a chance that one of them might be rested with Chadd Sayers getting the nod. In fact, Starc had admitted that he was "stiff and sore" before the final day of play of the Gabba Test.
"The selectors are talking about (including an allrounder) at the moment," Smith said on Monday (December 19). "It's obviously been a very tough Test match for our fast bowlers. They've bowled a lot of overs and we're going to have to see how they pull up.
"They'll be put on ice for the next couple of days and try to get back a bit of energy, and whatever soreness they've got in their body they'll try to get rid of that. So I think an allrounder will be talked about, but we'll wait and see which way the selectors go."
Marsh, the all-rounder, was left out of the side after a prolonged slump with the bat in hand. The 25-year-old has aggregated just 626 runs at an average of 23.18 in the longest format so far. James Faulkner, the limited-overs specialist, Marcus Stonis and Moises Henriques are the other options available for Australia.
"These players have performed extremely well in earning back-to-back Test victories against South Africa and Pakistan and deserve the opportunity to stay together as a group to continue their development," interim selection chairman Trevor Hohns said about the 12-man squad.
"We have the option to add to the squad depending on how the bowling unit pulls up after getting through a lot of overs in Brisbane and if we opt to go down that path then that is a decision we will make over the coming days."
Australia squad for second Test: David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers
