Australia skipper Pat Cummins ‘expects’ opening batsman David Warner to make the cut for the fourth Ashes Test, starting Wednesday, July 19 in Manchester. The statement from Cummins comes amid Warner’s dwindling for since 2021, his struggles against Stuart Broad and temptation to play both Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh.
Warner, who has averaged just above 28 in 23 Tests since 2021, has been dismissed thrice by Broad in three Ashes Tests so far. Cummins, however, said that Warner’s been going well and ‘he imagines’ the left-hander opening the batting at Old Trafford.
“We’ll chat about it, but I imagine it will stay the same,” Cummins said of the opening pairing. “I think [Warner] has been going really well. I thought at Lord’s, he was really impressive. Last week, like many of us, he probably didn’t contribute as much as he would have liked with the bat.
“He’s been out there over the last couple of days putting in a lot of work, but I think this tour he has shown a lot of good signs and hasn’t quite kicked on to make that big score. Some of those innings he’s played under really tough circumstances has made it easy for [Steven] Smith to come in and score runs, or the like.”
Australia, however, have a selection dilemma at their disposal after Marsh scored a century and took crucial wickets in third Test as Green’s replacement. The only condition where both the all-rounders can play is spinner Todd Murphy going out, given Warner retains his place. Keeping Murphy out would mean that Australia will have an all-pace attack with Travis Head as back up.
“Every situation is different,” Cummins said of the final playing XI. “We’ve played games with one quick; we’ve played some games with heaps of quicks. It’s all really conditions based. As I said last week about Toddy, I would have loved to bowl him a bit more but there wasn’t a heap of overs in the game, the ball seemed to swing and seam a little bit, so that’s certainly something to weigh up this week.”
Australia currently lead the five-Test series 2-1.
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