Australia name unchanged XI for Boxing Day Test at MCG vs Pakistan
Australian captain Pat Cummins has confirmed the heartbreaking news no cricket fan wanted to hear on Christmas Day.
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Australia will go in with an unchanged XI for the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan at the MCG.
Aussie skipper Pat Cummins confirmed the team on Monday with Victorian cult hero Scott Boland left out of playing in front of his home crowd.
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Boland made his Test debut at the Boxing Day Test in 2021 and became an instant fan favourite with his heroics at the iconic venue.
With 10 wickets at an absurd average of 13.8, including his career-best 6/7 against England, fans were hopeful he’d be thrown back into the mix.
Those hopes were shut down on Christmas Day with Cummins announcing the pace bowling trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and himself would go again.
Starc, earlier in the week, declared he was confident Australia’s world-class pace trio could play all five Tests this home summer.
“It’s certainly not a schedule like what we had in the Ashes,” Starc said.
“We’ve had a few days in between Perth and coming to Melbourne, and then there’s a few days between the Pakistan series and the West Indies series.
“We look back at the Ashes schedule and having six Test matches in eight weeks was something that doesn’t happen all the time. The way we’re all feeling at the minute, we’re ready to go.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan has unveiled a 12-player squad for the Boxing Day Test, with wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan replacing Sarfaraz Ahmed.
The second Test between Australia and Pakistan gets underway at the MCG on Tuesday after 10.30am AEDT.
Australian XI
David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
Pakistan squad
Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Afridi, Hassan Ali, Mir Hamza, Aamir Jamal, Sajid Khan.
Originally published as Australia name unchanged XI for Boxing Day Test at MCG vs Pakistan
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