August is the cruellest month. A wasteland for Test cricket, we’re reduced to sucking marrow from the bones of meals past as our stomachs rumble in contemplation of summer’s feast. The candyfloss of Hundreds and out-of-season Top End series is an unsustainable and unhealthy sugar high.
We’ll get to this first Ashes Test on hands and knees, but we’ll get there. As reported on the pod, they are saying in Perth there’s been “unprecedented demand” for the first Test (Nov 21-25) and that ticket sales have been so strong for the first day that the only way to be there for the toss is to purchase a WACA Membership. That’s great news for cricket in the West.
It’s with some reluctance, however, that I enter the conversation about who will take the field that first morning, primarily because I know we are locking ourselves into months of speculation, but the experts are lining up with their hot takes.
The last Australian XI to take the field looked like this:
Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Cam Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood.
Obviously, there are a few moving parts there. Sam Konstas looks to have conceded his place while Nathan Lyon would presumably reclaim his at the expense of one of the bowlers.
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