By Ian Ransom
(Reuters) -Australia and England wrapped up their Ashes preparations on Thursday with the home side showing their hand with a pair of debutants while the visitors kept their final XI under wraps for the series-opening test.
Injuries have torn up Australia’s best-laid plans twice in recent weeks but stand-in skipper Steve Smith was all calm as he confirmed that opener Jake Weatherald would face the new ball at Perth Stadium and paceman Brendan Doggett will slot into a depleted attack.
The 31-year-old debutants may do little to reduce the ageing profile of the Australian squad but each offers something different on the menu for England.
Initially sixth cab off the rank in Australia’s pace setup, Doggett will be thrown into the Ashes cauldron from Friday because of injuries to Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Sean Abbott.
Aggressive left-hander Weatherald joins the more patient Usman Khawaja at the top of the order, having turfed Sam Konstas out of the position with his weight of domestic runs.
Both the new boys face a baptism of fire against a team convinced by captain Ben Stokes that the urn England relinquished eight years ago is there for the taking.
“We’ve got an opportunity over the next two and a half months to write our own history,” Stokes told reporters on Thursday.
“We’ve obviously come with the goal and that goal is to get on that plane mid-January and return to England being Ashes winners.”
The Perth Stadium curator has promised the wicket will be green, fast and bouncy but Stokes offered no thoughts on whether England would attack with four quicks or pick the specialist spinner, Shoaib Bashir, in their 11.
The decision may come later on Thursday after a chat with coach Brendon McCullum, the skipper said.
LYON THE GOAT
Australia had no hesitation picking spinner Nathan Lyon, who turned 38 on Thursday and embarks upon his eighth Ashes campaign.
The man nicknamed “Goat” (Greatest Of All-Time) for claiming an Australian record 562 test wickets as an off-spinner would be hard to overlook at Perth Stadium where he has 29 wickets at an average of 20.86.
“He’s done really well out here. He bowls nicely when the wicket’s bouncing,” said Smith.
“So we’ll see how it pans out.”
Smith will have Cummins keeping a close eye on proceedings and offering another calm voice in the dressing room.
England will have travelling fans back in the terraces four years after they were barred from the deflating 2021/22 tour due to Australia’s stiff border controls during COVID.
Touring in a COVID-restricted bubble, Joe Root’s England lost 4-0 for a second successive series.
Only a few of the squad remain from that tour, leaving most in the current England setup free of the scarring.
A tighter series is tipped even if the host nation would delight in another thrashing.
“When battle lines are drawn on Friday, then I will certainly be hoping that it’s a 5-0 result in Australia’s (favour),” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on the eve of the opener.
England have a mountain to climb to win back the urn for the first time in Australia since 2010/11, and they will be dodging flak from home fans and media all the way.
Perth newspaper the Western Australian roasted England’s players as “arrogant Bazballing Poms” on its front page on Thursday.
Stokes said England would take things in their stride.
“We know we’re going to be outnumbered … and that’s going to be good fun.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
