Australia announced their playing XI for the fourth Test of the Ashes 2023 on Tuesday. Interestingly, the Pat Cummins-led side enter the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Manchester without a spinner in the line-up. England have already announced their roster with James Anderson make a return to the playing XI in place of pacemaker Ollie Robinson.
The fourth test, which kicks off on July 19 in Manchester, will feature the same top five players from the previous game, Australian skipper Pat Cummins has informed. In the first two Tests against England at Edgbaston and Lord’s, respectively, Hazlewood took three and five wickets.
After being beaten by just one run in each of his two innings in the third Test by his opponent Stuart Broad, David Warner was kept in the line-up.
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“Davey didn’t have his best game last week at Headingley but before that he looked really good. He had three (opening) 50-point partnerships which can be rare in England” , added Cummins.
Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Josh Hazlewood.
JUST IN: Josh Hazlewood and Cameron Green will play at Old Trafford with Scott Boland and Todd Murphy making way #Ashes– cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) July 18, 2023
‘Cummins is more of an old fashioned test captain, Stokes tries to make something happen with every ball’
Legendary Ricky Ponting thinks Australian skipper Pat Cummins is more of an old-fashioned test captain, letting “the plans unfold” while his England counterpart Ben Stokes tries to shake things up with every ball.
The decisions of the two relatively new captains in the ongoing Ashes series have been the subject of intense debate. While Stokes’ call to declare early in the first innings of the opening Test has been dissected by media and pundits, Cummins’ sparse use of rookie spinner Todd Murphy in the loss at Headingley has also raised concerns. eyebrows.
“I think it was one of the most tactical series I can remember, because of the two different styles of play, probably also two contrasting leadership styles,” Ponting told ‘The ICC Review’.
“Pat (Cummins) is more of an old-fashioned Test match sort of captain where he kind of lets define the fields and lets the plans unfold and is happy to do it over a long period of time, whereas Stokes is a bit the other way.
“He kind of tries to make something happen with every ball and as a result sometimes plans never really have a chance to come to fruition,” Ponting added.
Having been elevated to test captain following Tim Paine’s sudden resignation ahead of the 2021 Ashes, Cummins has had a good run as skipper.
Australia’s rhythm spearhead began his captaincy by winning the Ashes last series 4-0, then won against Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa. Australia also drew 1-1 with Sri Lanka away last year. (Ashes 2023: ‘This guy ran on Muralitharan’, Aussie captions call out McCullum for ‘hypocrisy’)
His only series defeat came against India earlier this year before overcoming the side led by Rohit Sharma in the final to lift the mass of the World Test Championship.
“Look, Pat’s still pretty young at this job. Let’s remember he’s only been at it for a few years now and I’m sure he’s learning along the way,” Ponting said.
Australia lead the series 2-1 heading into the fourth Test from Manchester on Wednesday.
“I’m not going to question Pat at all. The fact that Australia are leading 2-1 indicates that he has done a good job for me. There will always be little things in a game. When you lose, there are always little things in a game that people are happy to talk about but at the end of the day I think the tactic is better to wait and see what the result will be at the end of the series and then we can criticize the two captains on the result.” (With PTI inputs)