Josh Hazlewood ruled out for the Ashes after injury flare-up as Khawaja lifeline looms in middle order

Andrew McDonald has refused to close the door on an Adelaide return for Usman Khawaja — and not necessarily at the top of the order. See the latest selection intrigue, plus the latest on Josh Hazlewood.

Usman Khawaja’s Test career may be resuscitated in the middle order as Australia goes for the jugular in Adelaide, refusing to rest players in a bid to sew up an unassailable 3-0 Ashes series despite Josh Hazlewood being ruled out for the entire series.

Pat Cummins is effectively locked in to return as captain - a move to be confirmed on Wednesday with Australian coach Andrew McDonald on Tuesday all but guaranteeing that Cummins’ formal addition to the 14-man squad would be the only change from a group that is on the verge of locking away the urn (figuratively) until at least 2027.

While there has been speculation that Australia could rest Scott Boland in a bid to ensure Brisbane Test star Michael Neser remains in the XI, McDonald said workload management would not be a major consideration until the fourth and fifth Tests, meaning Boland is likely to hold his spot.

With Cummins set to play after recovering from his back injury, and Nathan Lyon also guaranteed to come back for the third Test after missing out at the Gabba because of conditions, Australia will make at least two changes to its winning XI.

Usman Khawaja. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images.

Josh Hazlewood. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images.

There is also scope for further alterations, with Khawaja on track to be available to play and under consideration to be recalled in the middle order, which would likely come at the expense of Josh Inglis.

McDonald would not guarantee whether the Travis Head-Jake Weatherald opening combination would again be employed when the third Test starts in Adelaide next week but in any case there could still be room for Khawaja, who turns 39 on day two at Adelaide Oval, to play should he be cleared following his recent back troubles.

“The assumption is that he can only open,” McDonald said of Khawaja.

“So I think that he does have the flexibility. We like to think that all our batters have the flexibility to be able to perform anywhere in that order. So we’ve got a collective group of batters there, that as the series wears on, the opposition may create some different challenges for us. So we’re open to what it will look like for us moving forward. And we’ve got three Test matches to go.”

Despite a five-wicket haul in the second innings at the Gabba, Neser is at risk of being squeezed out of the team given McDonald downplayed the prospect that a player could be rested, owing to what will be a 10-day break between the second and third Tests.

Michael Neser dismisses Ben Stokes

Brendan Doggett is also vulnerable to be omitted given Australia’s bowlers all pulled up well, despite Mitchell Starc being troubled mid-Test by a side issue.

“In the pre-planning, which is something we do around the Test matches and work out where the stress points potentially will be. The gap between one and two and two and three was something we think we could manage, so it would be more than likely the best balanced and available attack for Adelaide. So yeah, we wouldn’t be thinking about that someone would need a rest there. It’s probably more so in Test match four and five.”

One man who definitively won’t play a part in the remainder of the series is Hazlewood, whose fresh Achilles trouble, which came as he was rehabilitating a hamstring injury, ensures the paceman will instead seek to prepare for the Twenty20 World Cup in February and March.

Hazlewood will be targeting the Twenty20 World Cup for a return. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images.

“I don’t think he will take part in the series now. It’s a totally separate injury. It’s somewhere lower in the calf to Achilles region. I don’t want to get into the medical terms, but that’ll be something that we’ll release with greater detail tomorrow when the squad is announced. But yeah, he will be out of the series, and his preparation will then shift towards the World Cup, which is an incredibly important campaign for us,” McDonald said.

“But unfortunately Josh won’t be a part of the Ashes. And yeah, really flat for him. He had a couple of setbacks that we didn’t see coming, and we thought he would play a huge part in the series. But yeah, really feel for him that he won’t get that opportunity.”

McDonald also confirmed that Mitch Marsh remained available for the remainder of the Ashes series despite announcing that he will retire from Sheffield Shield cricket at the end of the season. But a combination of Australia’s success with the bat thus far in the series, combined with Marsh’s lean returns for Western Australia against Victoria in the most recent Shield round, means he is now highly unlikely to play another Test.

Originally published as Josh Hazlewood ruled out for the Ashes after injury flare-up as Khawaja lifeline looms in middle order