Jake Weatherald, Brendan Doggett to debut for Australia
Australian selectors needed to be confident that Green could be the only all-rounder a year on from back surgery, but when that was underlined by his sharp pace in the last Sheffield Shield match, the balance of the side began to fall into place.
While Webster has been unfortunate to miss out on solid contributions in all six Tests so far, he has always been seen as the role player behind the long-term investment in Green. Last summer Webster broke into the squad as backup to Mitchell Marsh before replacing him in Sydney.
Weatherald has been singled out as the ideal complement to Usman Khawaja’s calmer style, while Labuschagne will be most comfortable at three and skipper Smith at four.
“I’ve watched him over the last few days hitting the net from pretty close, some pretty challenging nets, quick, flexible, lots of seams and he’s got a lot of guts,” Smith said of Weatherald. “He just walks in there, I don’t think he looks at the side arms or anything like that.
“He was looking to face the bowlers the whole time and they were bowling fast so he took them on, he was getting into really good positions. He was picked specifically for his performances over the last 18 months, he’s batted exceptionally well in the Tasmanian order and hopefully he can bring that to the Test arena.”
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Doggett, who has been an outstanding bowler in domestic cricket over the last few years, bowls at high pace and can swing the ball, as well as bowling as a Test bouncer.
Smith said of Doggett: “He brings the ball down with good pace, keeps the seams up, his lengths are really good, so everything you need for a surface like that is there.” he said.
“Brendan has been on a few tours with Australia, he’s very talented, I think he’s improved a lot over the last few years and I’m excited to see him do his thing.
“Hopefully when we bowl he can bowl to areas where we know he can get the ball and if he does that I’m sure he will create a lot of chances.”
Australian team: Jake Weatherald, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett.
