If Australian cricket were running a job ad this summer, the opening batter role would still be marked “vacant”.
The Boxing Day Test loss only confirmed what has been increasingly obvious all series, the auditions are ongoing, the shortlists are shrinking, and no one has yet made the job their own.
This is not a crisis (the Aussies are still winning series after all), but it is a failure of succession planning, timing, and nerve by Cricket Australia.
Auditions still ongoing, it’s time to show some intent
The central issue remains unchanged, the Australian team still does not have a settled opening partnership.
The Boxing Day Test was meant to clarify the picture.
Instead, it reinforced the sense that they are treading water.
Sure, they won the series, but they were lucky on many occasions (English dropped catches just for starters), and if it wasn’t for Mitchell Starc and Travis Head, the tourists could well hold a 4-0 lead right now.
Opening in Test cricket is about endurance, repeatability, and the ability to blunt the new ball session after session. Right now, selectors are cycling through names rather than committing to a direction. The result is instability at the very top, the one place you cannot afford it.
Head is saving us, and that’s kind of the problem too
There is no question Head is in the form of his life. He looks capable of scoring runs wherever he bats. But in recent years, the fix from CA has been to just move the batting order around rather than bring in fresh players. During this Ashes, they did it again because of Head’s wonderful form.
Australian selectors put their faith in Head to open the batting and kick things off, but he has been the middle order rock now for many years.
So, what happens when that rock is moved?
We’ve seen the top-order collapse too often this series. Yes, Alex Carey and Starc have played out of their skin and rescued the team on numerous occasions, but that is not a sustainable long-term strategy.
These two won’t always be able to perform the CPR on top-order collapses.
Head belongs at five.
Weatherald question has been answered
This series should have been a defining opportunity for Jake Weatherald. It wasn’t.
At 31, and after multiple chances at the fringes of the national setup, the evidence is now overwhelming. If he cannot perform in Australian conditions, where he knows the pitches, the ball, and the climate, then international touring success is highly unlikely.
Test cricket is brutally honest. It does not reward patience for patience’s sake. At some point, selectors must accept that ‘nearly’ is not enough.
Safe selection equals missed opportunity
There was quiet optimism that this series might deliver Australia its next long-term opening partnership, something with the staying power of a David Warner and Usman Khawaja, or further back, a Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer.
Instead, the selectors once again opted for safety over foresight. By moving Head to opener, the selectors have done what they have believed openly now for many years, anyone can bat anywhere. And this is fundamentally flawed.
That conservatism extended beyond the batting. The Boxing Day Test was the perfect moment to begin life after Nathan Lyon.
His days are not over, but they are numbered. Melbourne might not have offered an ideal environment to blood a young spinner, but with the series won, the Ashes retained, it was time to accelerate learning and experience rather than delay it.
Australia chose not to. That decision may look increasingly timid as the cycle moves forward.
Usman Khawaja walks off after he is caught behind. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)
My XI for the SCG Test
Australia need consistency, not mixing around the batting order and bowling line-ups – too much movement is not conducive to success in Test cricket.
So, this is the side I would take into Sydney and moving forward for the next 12 months:
Matt Renshaw: He remains the best available candidate to absorb the new ball without ego. He may not dominate attacks, but his value lies in time spent and damage limited, exactly what Australia needs. Bazball was a failed experiment, so let’s learn from England’s failure, and ensure our new opener can see off the new ball. Side note, Renshaw just scored 102 in the Big Bash off just 51 balls, so he can be aggressive when he needs to be as well.
Nathan McSweeney: He is the forward-looking pick Australia have too often avoided. Technically solid and mentally composed, he deserves a genuine set of series to see whether he can grow into the long-term opening role rather than being judged on cameos. At just 26 years of age, he isn’t too young and inexperienced like Sam Konstas has shown to be, but young enough to play into this career.
Marnus Labuschagne: At three, Labuschagne is the insurance policy. He is Australia’s most reliable batter against movement and pressure, and his ability to grind restores a sense of inevitability to the top order. Sure, his form in the last two years hasn’t been to standard, but his recent Shield form says he’s still got it, and he remains the best first drop in the country.
Steve Smith: Nothing to say here. As long as Smith is playing Test cricket, this role is his.
Head: Five is the optimal deployment of his form. It places him in a position to counterattack decisively when the moment calls for it, or lock-in when a top order collapses.
Carey: He has evolved into a dependable crisis manager. Batting at six gives Australia resilience during collapses while preserving his ability to shift momentum when the opportunity presents itself. He is one of the best players at the moment for Australia and his role is a lock for the foreseeable future.
Nathan McSweeney. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Beau Webster: Cam Green is not in form, and while this position might not be a 12-month lock, Webster deserves to be in the squad in Sydney. Having been released from the Ashes squad to play Big Bash, perhaps the selectors are wanting him to get a bit of match practice before he is recalled. Let’s hope so.
Michael Neser (Pat Cummins to come back in when available): The skipper is a no-brainer here, however in his absence, the best of the seamers is Neser. Can bat, which is always necessary in the modern game, but his ability with the ball places him in this position. A five-wicket haul in the second Test highlighted his ability at this level.
Starc: Wickets and runs. He is in the form of his life with bat and ball. Starc should run for PM. The LNP might actually have a chance with him as leader.
Todd Murphy (Nathan Lyon to come back in when available): Murphy must be treated as a successor by Cricket Australia, not a filler. Giving him meaningful Test exposure now accelerates life after Lyon.
Scott Boland (Josh Hazlewood to come back in when available): Boland’s relentless accuracy makes him indispensable in Australian conditions. He earns his spot on output and provides control that balances Starc’s aggression. Hazlewood is still the number one choice here, but until he returns, Boland is a lock.
While I would like to see Usman Khawaja get a well-deserved send-off, that time has come and gone, this should have been during the Boxing Day Test. This is a business after all.
Australia need to move on quickly now and secure their future. While this is not a perfect XI (no selection ever is) it represents intent. And right now, intent matters more than safety by Cricket Australia.
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