In future Border-Gavaskar series there will be a fifth Test. However, in a way, we get one this time too. Australia and India will meet again in early June to decide the World Test Championship title.
There will be precious little time for either side to prepare given the IPL runs until late May, but you can make the case that Australia have it better. A number of their players will have county cricket stints beforehand, including key batters Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith, while fringe players get the A tour of New Zealand and the potential of further training at home.
By and large, selection for Australia’s best XI will not be an overly taxing affair provided injuries don’t play a major part. There are probably nine spots nailed down already. But those final two are ticklish decisions.
What next for David Warner?
“I think you work through that conversation, and how each player finishes is always differently,” McDonald said. “Some want to go out in a certain way, and others are okay with potentially being dropped out of sides. But at the moment Dave’s fully in our plans for the World Test Championship, he’s coming back for the one-day series, he’s recovered from his injury there, so we’ll see Dave back in Australian colours on the 17th and we’ll go from there.”
Even if Warner reaches the next home summer (where his home Test at the SCG will not be the final match of the season this time) there is little doubt that his Test career will end in the next 12 months, so there will need to be a replacement sooner rather than later.
Josh Hazlewood vs Scott Boland
If Hazlewood is fit for the WTC final it will be a close-run thing between him and Boland, although before the SCG match against South Africa he stated his belief that the pace-bowling hierarchy was still in place – and he was, indeed, selected ahead of Boland. Either of them should be a handful in England during early June.
Having said that Starc will be locked in, there may just be question posed as to whether he is the ideal type of fast bowler for early-season England. He only played once in the 2019 Ashes. However, since the start of 2021-22 season he has taken 51 wickets at 27.27 and he also has a role in creating rough for Nathan Lyon.
There is unlikely to be much difference between Australia’s WTC squad and their Ashes group, but the ICC will put a limit of the number of players for the final. For the 2021 edition it was 15. So let’s assume there are four extra spots to fill.
Australia’s possible WTC final squad (if 15 named): David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, Todd Murphy, Peter Handscomb, Michael Neser/Lance Morris