Australia’s XI for first Test against Pakistan at the Gabba as selected by our cricket experts
Harris or Burns? Starc or Pattinson? Experience or potential? Our cricket writers explain their picks for the Gabba. Tell them why they’re wrong (or right if you like) and select your own XI.
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After a number of failures in Australia’s top six during the recent Ashes series, the selectors will earn their money in putting together a side for the first home Test of the summer, to be announced later this week.
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With an Australia A match still in progress there is still time, even at this late hour, for candidates to make a final claim, but the decisions appear to come down to three key questions.
Who will partner David Warner at the top of the order; who fills the vacant No. 5 slot; and who will be the final member of the pace attack?
Our team of cricket writers weigh up the pros and cons and pick their preferred side. Let us know what you think in the comments (keep it civil) and pick your XI with our team selector tool.
ROBERT CRADDOCK (Courier Mail)
David Warner
Joe Burns
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Matt Wade
Will Pucovski
Tim Paine (c)
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Josh Hazlewood
Nathan Lyon
This is the summer when Australia should consider the future as well as the present.
It’s why I have Will Pucovski in the middle order even though I sense Travis Head may be the selectors choice which would be understandable given the sudden threat of Pakistan after the Australia A debacle in Perth.
After England it was clear Australia’s batting stocks need regeneration and Pucovski is clearly the best player of his generation.
Joe Burns would be my opener even though a first ball duck in Perth has again made him the selection room underdog.
Four centuries in 16 Tests warrants another go with David Warner.
The two are very different characters but they seem to gel well at the crease.
Australia is unlikely to play the same pace attack every match but I would start with Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins with James Pattinson to be a two Test storm trooper thoughout the summer.
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RUSSELL GOULD (Herald Sun)
David Warner
Marcus Harris
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Will Pucovski
Matthew Wade
Tim Pain ©
Pat Cummins
James Pattinson
Nathan Lyon
Josh Hazlewood
Mitchell Starc (12th)
Marcus Harris gets the nod as opener because he’s the future.
He was Australia’s best batsman against India last summer, then went back to the Shield at the end of the season and made two more hundreds.
Harris didn’t enjoy England, but should have made a big score at Headingley after getting to 19 and then trying to smash spinner Jack Leach first ball.
The conversation around Joe Burns is confusing, given the Queenslander hasn’t scored a single Sheffield Shield century in his past 25 innings.
Yes, he got 180 in a Test against Sri Lanka, but the selectors deemed those runs null and void when they left Burns, and Kurtis Patterson, who also got 100 in that Test, out of the Ashes squad.
Harris got another Shield 100 to start the season. Burns doesn’t have one in five innings, with the only out that he has played in tougher batting conditions at the Gabba.
Usman Khawaja is out of the conversation if selectors are true to their word, because he has no Shield runs, the real Test selection currency, and already lost his place in the Test team.
Will Pucovski gets the not ahead of Travis Head because Australian cricket needs the young Victorian.
Clean-cut, perfectly moulded to play the long-form game, and everyone who encounters the 21-year-old falling over themselves to say how good he is.
Pucovski gives cricket something to get excited about, and with a rout likely against Pakistan, cricket needs it.
It’s hard on Head, but he’s two Matthew Wade failures away from being next cab off the rank.
James Pattinson gets the bowling spot because he is ready to go, and you have to take advantage of that.
You could pick either the Victorian or Mitchell Starc, but Pattinson showed more in England than Starc, and should have played more than two Tests.
His bowling in the nets before the fourth Test at Manchester had to be seen to be believed.
Word has it he thought he was playing the final match at The Oval too, and while he hasn’t set the world on fire with just five wickets in two Shield games to open the summer, he gets better at Test level. Unleash him.
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BEN HORNE (Daily Telegraph)
David Warner
Joe Burns
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Travis Head
Matthew Wade
Tim Paine (capt)
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Nathan Lyon
Josh Hazlewood
James Pattinson (12th)
Usman Khawaja and Marcus Harris obviously still have a chance to push their claims in Perth – with plenty riding on the ongoing Australia A clash against Pakistan. But all things being equal, I think Joe Burns is the safe bet.
In hindsight he should have gone to England and has been overlooked plenty of times in recent years when his record would suggest he has deserved more of a crack.
Why not this summer?
The No. 5 spot is a really tough one. Will Pucovski is a player of the future and would love to see him in the Test side, ASAP. But for mine, Travis Head’s last-start hundred for South Australia should clinch him back his spot.
No dramas with Head being dropped for the last Ashes Test to fit in the all-rounder, but now selectors are going back to a top six of specialist batsmen, I don’t think Head can be cast aside.
Australia has invested a lot in him as a vice-captain and outside of the Ashes, his Test record, averaging 42 from 12 Tests, is strong and deserves backing.
If there is one pitch in Australia that suits James Pattinson down to the ground, it’s the Gabba, but I can’t go past Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood as the first-up attack for the summer. It was a mistake to leave Starc out of the last Test of the Ashes and it would be a brave call to hold him back again with back-to-back pink ball Tests coming up after Brisbane.
Starc looked menacing on a docile Drummoyne Oval wicket in a recent Shield match, and will be hungry.
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RICHARD EARLE (Adelaide Advertiser)
Joe Burns
David Warner
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Matthew Wade
Travis Head
Tim Paine
Pat Cummins
Mitch Starc
Josh Hazlewood
Nathan Lyon
Four tons in 16 Tests, Test and first class averages of 40 and perfect right hand foil for David Warner – Joe Burns ticks all the boxes. It’s time for Burns to get an extended run in the baggy green.
Travis Head is Australia’s best performed batsman since debuting last October and deserves a recall, averaging 42 over 12 Tests. Was dropped for the final Test Australia lost at The Oval but has dug it out of trouble in multiple series.
Head (35) was the only top six batsman to reach double figures with Smith (144) in the first Test at Birmingham which kept Australia in the contest. Head’s 130-run second innings stand with Smith broke England who had reduced the tourists to 3-75.
At Lord’s Head would guide Australia to safety with an unbeaten second innings 42, the visitors’ second top score.
Head saved Australia with Usman Khawaja against Pakistan on debut in Dubai and was solid against India. He made a decisive maiden ton against Sri Lanka having arrived at the crease with Australia 3-28 in Canberra.
A fighting Sheffield Shield ton (109) against New South Wales should seal first Test selection.
Mitchell Starc is an undeniable wicket-taker, and offers point of difference as left-armer who menaces tails at 150km/h. Virtual allrounder averaging 22 with bat.
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SAM LANDSBERGER (Herald Sun)
David Warner
Joe Burns
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Matthew Wade
Will Pucovski
Tim Paine (c) (wk)
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Josh Hazlewood
Nathan Lyon
James Pattinson (12th)
Carrot king Joe Burns crunched 180 against Sri Lanka in February and then missed selection at the Ashes, where Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja and Marcus Harris all failed in the top order.
With the selection call to open with David Warner so tight you wonder whether Harris’s slippery hands in the field could loosen his grip as the incumbent.
Suspect Travis Head will get the nod over Will Pucovski in the middle order although it would make sense to blood the 21-year-old who will bat for Australia for the next generation, particularly against a young Pakistan attack and two years out from a home Ashes series.
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JOE BARTON (Daily Telegraph)
David Warner
Usman Khawaja
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Matthew Wade
Will Pucovski
Tim Paine
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Nathan Lyon
Josh Hazlewood
James Pattinson (12th)
Let’s assume there’s only three contentious positions – David Warner’s opening partner, a middle order batting spot and the final seamer.
Usman Khawaja has battled to start the Shield season and, at 32, he isn’t a pick for the future.
But there’s no one knocking the door down to open for Australia, and if Warner gets in on having credits in the bank then Usman Khawaja should as well.
His record in Australia – 1854 runs at 50.46, with six centuries – is outstanding; while at opener – two centuries, average of 96.80 – he’s exceptional.
His best rival, state teammate Joe Burns, has struggled this summer … and is edged out by Khawaja due to experience.
After a modest start to his Test career – averaging 36 against India and then 23 against Sri Lanka last summer – Marcus Harris had a nightmare Ashes series which put a giant question mark over whether he is made for Test cricket.
To give the team a youthful injection, I want selectors to lean towards Will Pucovski. He’s raw, but has shown serious promise in his short first-class career. Pick him at six and give him the summer.
Travis Head’s time in the Test team isn’t finished, but he looks like he could use a stint in Shield to correct some technical flaws and regain a bit of confidence.
The final member of the bowling attack could feasibly go to a handful of guys, but I’ll go for Mitchell Starc. He’s back bowling with serious heat and his ability to create footholes for Nathan Lyon is an underrated asset.
A fit James Pattinson is unlucky to miss, but he hasn’t set the world alight recently while Starc blitzed Tasmania to the tune of 10 wickets last month on a dead pitch. That’s hard to ignore.
Originally published as Australia’s XI for first Test against Pakistan at the Gabba as selected by our cricket experts
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