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If you had told Australian observers six months ago that their Test team in Sydney would involve Travis Head opening the batting with Jake Weatherald, Usman Khawaja at five, no Cameron Green, and some bowling combination of Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Todd Murphy and Brendan Doggett, they would have assumed disaster. Fifth Ashes Tests are the land of Scott Borthwick, of Boyd Rankin and Mason Crane: fringe players getting a glimpse at the wreckage after a series has crashed and burned.
Khawaja was one such, in the debut reflected upon so much this week after his retirement announcement: the game when he replaced an injured Ricky Ponting after two Australian defeats by an innings, only to play in a third.
Instead the Australians won this series comfortably before Christmas, despite a run of injury and health issues that should have made their campaign shambolic. Three of the Big Four bowlers are on the rehab list, replacement captain Steve Smith missed the series decider, Khawaja’s absence tipped the batting order upside down, and two key fit players in Green and Marnus Labuschagne have underdelivered. Yet the home team has been blessed by even greater disarray in the approach of their visitors.
Green may yet play in Sydney, but having offered minimal bowling to offset inadequate runs and a frazzled recent approach at the crease, fellow allrounder Beau Webster might get the spot instead. In turn that might effect other selection decisions. Neither side will name a team until the toss, spooked by the two-day nonsense in Melbourne and the very normal tinge of green on the pitch in Sydney into considering another match heavy on pace.
England’s willingness to keep pretending that Will Jacks is a Test spinner is one thing, given that they want his batting, and that their net sessions and tour games have apparently tanked all faith in Shoaib Bashir. Australia’s increasing fascination with playing four fast bowlers – as in three of their last five starts – is stranger given the chance now exists to get matches into off-spinner Murphy as the likely successor to Nathan Lyon.
Murphy batted in the nets in the final training session, a good sign that he’s likely to play. But whether or not that comes to pass, the fact that both teams are even considering going into a Sydney Test without a specialist spinner shows how far cricket’s current dynamic in Australia has shifted away from the art, something that can only be to the overall detriment of the game.
Even on surfaces that suit fast bowling, spin can almost always play a part as a means of variety, and with some rain forecast as usual during the week after the New Year, this match has the potential of going deep into its five days. Both teams seemed flat during their flail-off at the MCG, perhaps in the wake of the series being decided a few days prior, but the extra time off should have given them time to rebound. Beyond the normal pride in turning out for the national team anywhere, anytime, both teams have other things to play for.
England want the 3-2 scoreline that will polish up their early misadventure, allowing them to recast this series as the one that got away, and to carry on their good-vibes project without too much structural reinvention. Australia are taking a very prosaic view according to coach Andrew McDonald, in which the Ashes are won but the next job is maximising World Test Championship winning percentage. The home team blew a chance in Melbourne to get perfect returns, and won’t want to do further damage to their numbers.
Finally, there will of course be the wish to send off Khawaja on a good note, as someone whose career is so closely linked with the cricket ground in his original home town. The unlikely debut in 2011, the site of his twin-ton comeback in 2021, the ground where he encouraged his captain to declare against South Africa despite being 195 not out.
The SCG is now the place where Khawaja will leave the field as an Australian cricketer for the last time. Walking off with the series settled on 4-1 would be a triumph, where 3-2 would be a source of some annoyance. At least with these two teams we know that serious rain is the only thing that could cause a draw.
