Melbourne [Australia], August 18 (ANI): Australia have made one change to their squad for the second and final ICC World Test Championship fixture against Bangladesh in Mackay, dropping opener Jake Weatherald after his struggles continue.
Weatherald, who could score just 23 and 0 despite “tweakings” he admitted to having made in his technique, has been replaced by left-handed batter Matthew Renshaw. Australia is 1-0 down in the series after an embarrassing nine-wicket loss at Darwin, with their batting facing a lot of questions at the moment.
Since his debut in the international arena during the home Ashes last year, Weatherald has scored just 224 runs in six Tests at an average of 20.36, with just one half-century to his name.
“Yeah, there was some change to Jake in terms of where he lined up and his movement patterns,” coach Andrew McDonald said of Weatherald, as quoted by Cricket.com.au.
“It is always hard to critique small sample sizes on whether it holds up (at international level). He dragged one on and drove at one in the first innings and was dismissed; it’s probably harder with that smaller sample size to say, ‘Yep, that is going to hold up under pressure’. But there was some change though,” he added.
Josh Inglis is another option to open alongside Travis Head and the five-Test old explosive wicketkeeper-batter has usually batted in the middle order in the Sheffield Shield. But in November last year, knocks of 40 and 125* against England Lions ahead of the Ashes at home saw him throw up his name in the ring for a top-order gig.
Renshaw could be a conventional pick, given he has already scored two first-class tons at the Mackay venue which is making its Test debut. The 30-year-old last played a Test against India three years back in the middle order and has featured in 14 Tests, scoring 645 runs in 24 innings, with a century and three fifties at an average of 29.31. But he was a consistent performer in the Sheffield Shield for Queensland, with 499 runs in 10 innings at an average of almost 50, with three tons and a fifty.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster. (ANI)
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