MELBOURNE :Young opener Sam Konstas has been dropped from Australia’s squad for the Ashes, opening the door for uncapped Jake Weatherald to make a test debut in the five-match series against England.
Konstas, 20, misses out after a poor tour with the bat in the West Indies, while Weatherald has been included after starting the Sheffield Shield season with three half-centuries.
Top-order batter Marnus Labuschagne was recalled after starting the domestic season with five centuries in a major return to form.
Selectors chairman George Bailey said they had not settled on a starting 11, however, and wanted more data from domestic matches.
“I think we’ve got 14 out of that 15-man squad playing round four (of Sheffield Shield).
“Still some information to gather out of that. Cameron Green being one, returning to the bowling crease.”
Green has barely bowled recently but has been included along with fellow all-rounder Beau Webster.
“It’d be great to see (him bowling), because that’s his skill set, isn’t it? So if someone’s an all-rounder, you want them to be able to, in an ideal world, be capable of performing their skills,” added Bailey.
“So it’s a nice piece of the puzzle, but if it’s not the case, then it ends up being another test, and that’s okay. We’ll work through it.”
There was no place for Mitchell Marsh despite the all-rounder’s good form in white-ball cricket and a recent endorsement from coach and selector Andrew McDonald.
Steve Smith will captain the side for at least the first test in Perth, starting on November 21, due to Pat Cummins’s back injury.
Scott Boland is in line to bowl in Perth along with regular quicks Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, while Sean Abbott and Brendan Doggett are the reserve pacers.
Australia squad: Steve Smith (capt), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey, Jake Weatherald, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett.
