Ricky Ponting selects his Australia XI for Ashes opener in Perth

Perth [Australia], November 19 (ANI): Former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting has revealed his preferred Australian line-up for the first Ashes Test against England, scheduled to be played in Perth on Friday.

Ponting has backed Jake Weatherald for a Test debut and opted for Brendan Doggett to join the pace attack, as per the official website of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Australia have had mounting injury concerns in the build-up to the marquee series, with pacers Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins both out of the first Test, along with back-up quick Sean Abbott.

Factoring that in, along with team balance and combinations, Ponting's pick for the Australia XI featured a debutant alongside a rejigged pace bowling line-up.

"I feel that Australia's best team has Jake Weatherald opening the batting along with (Usman) Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne at three," Ponting said on The ICC Review, as quoted from the official website of ICC.

"He's (Labuschagne) done absolutely everything that's been asked of him over the last month, scoring hundreds at will, coming back into the side at No.3," he added.

"Steve Smith (at) four, Travis Head (at) five, Cameron Green (at) six, Carey (at) seven," he noted.

"With (Scott) Boland, (Mitchell) Starc, probably Doggett gets the nod ahead of Michael Neser and Nathan Lyon, who was always going to play anyway, I think that will be Australia's team," he said.

With his preferred XI laid out, Ponting unpacked how Australia arrived at such a selection dilemma ahead of the Ashes.

The loss of Hazlewood to a hamstring strain is a significant one - he is approaching 300 wickets after 76 Tests - and his absence is compounded by the unavailability of captain Cummins, leaving Boland, Starc and Doggett as the front-line fast bowling options, with the selectors adding Michael Neser as cover for the first Test.

"If you had asked me this (to pick the XI) a week ago, my thoughts might have been slightly different," Ponting said.

"Obviously, we've had Josh Hazlewood go down with that hamstring strain, it seems like, in the last (Sheffield) Shield game that he played. Brendan Doggett is already in the squad, he's been called in. Michael Neser has also been called into the squad now," he added.

"So a week ago, I felt that they were going to play Jake Weatherald as the opener and Labuschagne at No.3 and that Doggett would probably just come in, Boland comes in the absence of Pat Cummins. But now things could be different," he noted.

Ponting said, "The fact that Hazelwood is not there, they'll have Starc, Boland, probably Doggett. Do they now think that they might need some more bowling cover as far as the all-rounders are concerned? Do they now think they might need Beau Webster to be in that side as well. So there are a lot of questions that I am not really sure what the outcome or the answer is."

The former Australian skipper pointed out that with a fully fit attack, Green's workload would have been more than manageable after an encouraging Shield outing, where he blazed a brilliant 94 for Western Australia, in addition to picking up a wicket in his fiery spell with the ball in the first innings.

"If they had their full strength bowling group, Cameron Green, having got through the Shield game last week, I think they would have been more than comfortable going into a Perth Test with him as the all-rounder that could bowl eight, 10, 12 overs in an innings," Ponting noted.

The absence of Hazlewood has ensured Beau Webster is in the conversation, particularly after a standout bowling display in his most recent outing for Tasmania, picking up eight wickets, including 5/50 in the first innings.

"Beau Webster in this last Shield game as well, missed out with the bat in both innings but picked up eight wickets with the ball. So he's also thrown a bit of a spanner into the works there as far as selection is concerned," Ponting added.

Australia take on England in the first of five Ashes Tests as part of the ICC World Test Championship at Perth Stadium in Western Australia, beginning Friday.

Australia's squad (first Test only): Steve Smith (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster. (ANI)

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