Ashes 2019 | Australia drop Usman Khawaja for Old Trafford Test
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Australia have taken a massive call ahead of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford, dropping senior batsman Usman Khawaja, who has failed to score a fifty in six innings. Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc, who impressed in the tour match against Derbyshire, has been included in the 12-man squad.
The Australian selectors have made it clear to the players that form will trump everything else, as they've dumped senior batsman Usman Khawaja for the fourth Test at Old Trafford. The left-hander, who has so far returned scores of 13, 40, 36, 2, 8 and 23 in this series has been left out, while opener Marcus Harris and middle-order batsman Matthew Wade have been given a lifeline.
Mitchell Starc, who was left out of the squad for the first three Tests, has also been included, with Victorian James Pattinson omitted from the squad. All-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who was in line to make his Test comeback, has also surprisingly been omitted, despite impressing in the tour match against Derbyshire with both bat and ball. Steve Smith, who missed the third Test due to concussion, will slot back in at No.4, while Marnus Labuschagne will take Khawaja's No.3 slot.
"The tough thing for Mitch and a few of them, is you have to bang so hard to get into the side like Matthew Wade, Marcus Harris did for example. He's (Marsh) craving some continuity of playing so he can get some performance on the board, I reckon. Obviously, he's played about thirty-odd Test matches, or about that, because we see the value of having a guy who can bat, hopefully, score hundreds in the top six and bowl pretty well," coach Justin Langer said ahead of the fourth Test, reported Cricbuzz.
Australia's XII: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine (c, wk), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins.
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