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When it comes to choice, Australia pays more attention to local offerings than its English counterparts.
Labuschagne’s form necessitated a call-up, while uncapped Jake Weatherald was Sheffield Shield’s top scorer last season.
If the left-hander gets the nod in Perth, he would be Khawaja’s sixth different opening partner since David Warner retired in January 2024.
Taking on Jofra Archer and his teammates at the Optus Stadium will be a far cry from his time last year with Great Whittingham in the East Anglia Premier League, where Weatherald was a team-mate of Monty Panesar.
As was confirmed last month, there is a Pat Cummins-shaped hole in Australia’s attack. Cummins could return for the second Test, and at the moment Scott Bolland is someone capable of filling the void with an outstanding record in Australia.
As a reserve player, Sean Abbott has nearly 60 caps in white-ball cricket, and Brendan Doggett is considered an experienced Sheffield Shield player.
In terms of selection, Australia have more questions to answer than England, but remain favorites to retain the urn. Only six of the England squad have ever played a Test in Australia, and the touring squad of 16 have one Test hundred down between them, belonging to Stokes. Only the captain and Mark Wood had ever worn bowling boots in Australia before.
England’s collective inexperience in Australian conditions will raise questions about the limited time to prepare. They will play a three-day red-ball warm-up match, against the England Lions at Lilac Hill, from next Wednesday.
The veterans’ Ashes tours were aghast, although pundits may not have paid enough attention to England’s overseas excursions under Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
Since the captain and coach took over in 2022, preparations for the tour have been reduced to one warm-up match or no warm-up matches at all. England won the first Test on all five of their overseas tours under Stokes, including all times against Pakistan in Rawalpindi and India in Hyderabad.
It’s reasonable to want to keep it the same way for this round – they deserve the benefit of the doubt.
In any case, prolonged preparation does not guarantee success. England’s victory in the 2010-2011 season, when it won three friendly matches before beating Australia 3-1, is an example of this, but it is also considered exceptional.
In several other tours, England played warm-ups until the Kangaroos returned home and were later thrashed in Tests.
If England could control their preparations, they could not control the difficult ride they would face from the Australian press, which began with the Western Australian newspaper calling Stokes a “cocky captain”.
Such taunts are unlikely to bother a tough player like Stokes, and England will know that the press could quickly turn on the home side if England get on top.
Here lies the problem. For all the talk of selection and preparation, the verdict will come on the results and who the captain carries the urn in Sydney in January.
It is the unpredictable nature of this series that fuels the excitement – a compelling case can be made for many different outcomes. The uncertainty is great and will continue until November 21st, after which we will know a little more than we do now.
Until then, enjoy the hype.
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