Ashes bowl off: Which quicks will make the Australian squad?
The Test dream for veteran paceman Sean Abbott is edging ever closer with selectors expected to pull him from Australia’s T20 series with India in the latest nod to his Ashes potential.
Sean Abbott is likely to play for NSW in the Sheffield Shield next month rather than appear in the back end of Australia’s Twenty20 series against India in another sign that he is firmly in the mix for a Test debut this summer.
The veteran paceman was limited to just 9.1 overs in the Blues’ loss to Victoria at Junction Oval last week before splitting the webbing in his hand trying to field off his own bowling.
Abbott, 33, entered a mandatory 12 day stand-down period because of the injury but is eligible to return in the first T20 against India in Canberra on Tuesday night.
He is part of the Aussie squad for the opening two matches of that five game series, the second of which comes at the MCG on October 31.
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Australian selectors are yet to announce their squad for the remainder of the series, which ends at the Gabba on November 8.
However it’s understood that Abbott’s involvement in NSW’s fourth round Shield match against the Vics at the SCG - that starts on November 10 - is set to be prioritised over him playing in the latter stages of the T20 series.
That means Abbott would likely line up in a Blues pace attack also featuring incumbent Test quicks Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, both of whom have long been earmarked to play that Shield match, which is due to end eight days before the start of the first Test in Perth.
Hazlewood is also due to be rested from the end of the India T20s, while Starc has retired from T20 internationals.
Scott Boland - who is poised to be rested from Victoria’s round three match against Tasmania - is also slated to feature in the NSW-Victoria match in round four, as is Steve Smith.
Boland will almost certainly start the Ashes given Pat Cummins’ lingering back issue, with Smith set to lead the Aussies in the likelihood Cummins misses some if not all of the Tests.
Abbott - along with Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett - has been referenced by national selectors on several occasions in recent weeks as a leading candidate to be called upon throughout the Test summer should Australia need to delve beyond its big four quicks of Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Boland, who played together in Australia’s most recent Test against the West Indies.
With the squad for the first Test due to be announced following round three of the Shield season, it’s understood selectors have mulled naming a bigger squad than usual for a home Test given various moving parts.
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Cameron Green is unlikely to bowl many overs – if any – in the next Sheffield Shield round as his runway to prove his match fitness as a bankable all-rounder for the first Ashes Test narrows.
Green had been allowed to bowl eight overs in Western Australia’s Shield opener at the WACA Ground against NSW but ended up only sending down four because of restrictions around him bowling on consecutive days.
Those overs, which included a wicket, had been his first bowling in competitive cricket for more than a year following the back surgery that wiped him out of last summer and rendered him a specialist batter for Australia’s Tests against South Africa and the West Indies in the middle of the year.
Green had been due to play in Australia’s one-day international series against India that began in Perth on Sunday but was ruled out a couple of days out after experiencing side soreness.
Selection chair George Bailey has stressed that the side issue was minor, unwilling to even concede that it was a setback in Green’s Ashes preparations.
But it’s understood Green may not bowl at all in WA’s Shield match against South Australia next week at the WACA Ground, with CA continuing to tread with caution when it comes to the the generational talent.
1. BRENDAN DOGGETT
Doggett was initially named to be part of Australia’s fast-bowling cartel in the Caribbean but was ruled out with a hip issue. He missed South Australia’s opening Sheffield Shield game against Victoria with a hamstring injury but is due to return for the next game against Queensland. He was first named in the Test squad back in 2018.
2. SEAN ABBOTT
Abbott has been on the cusp of a Test debut since about 2020 and boasts experience from more than 50 international appearances. He was in the Test squad for the Sri Lankan tour, then replaced an injured Brendan Doggett as the back-up quick in the West Indies. His record is more impressive in white ball than red ball for New South Wales, which has always been the knock when Abbott has been mooted as a Test player-in-waiting.
3. MICHAEL NESER
The Queenslander has been a regular squad member despite not playing a Test since December, 2022, when he featured against West Indies in Adelaide. Would have to be a chance for the day-night Test in Brisbane should Pat Cummins still be sidelined.
4. FERGUS O’NEILL
Another seamer who would be a better chance of an Ashes debut if this series was being played in England, where he grabbed 21 wickets in four games for Nottinghamshire in Division 1 of the County Championship this year. O’Neill helped steer Victoria to victory in its recent Sheffield Shield clash with South Australia, but with the bat rather than the ball. The question mark will be whether he’s quick enough to trouble England’s batters in Australian conditions.
5. XAVIER BARTLETT
Bartlett has made an impressive start to his international career, taking 15 wickets in 11 T20s and 12 wickets in four one-day internationals. Managed 18 scalps in five Shield games for Queensland last summer too. Bartlett would have been a red-hot chance of a call-up if this series was being played in England, where his swing bowling would come to the fore.
6. HENRY THORNTON
The SA speedster is coming from a fair way back but has his admirers — as was evidenced when he was included on the Australia A tour of India. A spot in the Test squad would mark a meteoric rise for the NSW product, who went to Victoria after being squeezed out of the Blues set up before finding a home in South Australia. Especially when you consider he was left out for last season’s Sheffield Shield final triumph.
7. JORDAN BUCKINGHAM
Overlooked for a spot in the Victorian squad, Buckingham has made a name for himself since moving to South Australia. He took 22 wickets in six Shield matches last season and has 96 wickets after 29 first-class matches. He’s been likened to Jason Gillespie for his ability to extract movement off the seam.
Originally published as Ashes bowl off: Which quicks will make the Australian squad?
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