Wade dropped, uncapped quintet picked for SA tour

Australia have named five uncapped players in their 19-man squad for the three-match Test series in South Africa starting next month, with middle-order batter Matthew Wade the most significant casualty of the recent loss to India.

---

Australia Test squad for Qantas Tour of South Africa: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.

---

Wade played all four matches of the Vodafone Series that India won 2-1 – two of them as an interim opener with David Warner absent through injury – but his return of 173 runs from eight innings at an average of 21.62 meant he was under pressure to retain his place.

Selection for the South Africa series – the dates of which are yet to be finalised – has been complicated by the scheduling of a concurrent T20 men's team tour to New Zealand, with Wade included as a senior player in that 18-man squad.

That means uncapped South Australia keeper Alex Carey will head to South Africa on his maiden Test tour as back-up gloveman to Tim Paine, as part of a touring party that remains expanded due to the need to factor-in concussion and COVID substitutes.

The other uncapped members of Australia's squad, the nucleus of which contested the Border-Gavaskar Series, are Sean Abbott, Michael Neser, Mitchell Swepson and Queensland quick Mark Steketee, who is the only member of that group not to have been involved in the India campaign.

"When presented with the challenging task of selecting two concurrent Australian men’s squads for overseas tours, we picked our first-choice Test squad given the importance of the proposed series against South Africa," head selector Trevor Hohns said.

"The squad is quite similar to that selected for the final two Tests of the recently-completed Border-Gavaskar series, with the exception of Matt Wade, who will join the Australian men’s T20I squad in New Zealand, and the addition of Alex Carey, who has been in strong form with both bat and gloves.

"It is testament to the depth of Australian cricket that the NSP (National Selection Panel) has been able to select two Australian men's international squads of such quality."

Ben Oliver, Cricket Australia's Executive General Manager National Teams, also backed skipper Paine and said recent criticism of him following the loss to India "has been wide of the mark".

"Tim Paine has been an outstanding captain since taking over the Australian men's Test team in incredibly difficult circumstances," Oliver said.

"Tim has the support of the team, the coach and everyone else at Cricket Australia and the result of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series has done nothing to diminish that.

"Tim is in career-best form with the bat and, while the series against India was not his best with the gloves by his own admission, he remains in the top echelon of wicketkeepers globally.

"And as a leader, he has been brilliant. To captain a squad through the many challenges presented by the pandemic - not least the unique pressures of hub life - is no easy task and Tim did that with strength, humility and good humour.

"After a series that attracted so much global interest, it was inevitable there’d be scrutiny. But some of the commentary surrounding Tim and his position as Test captain has been wide of the mark."

Steketee was rewarded for his early-season success in the Marsh Sheffield Shield with selection in the Australia A line-up that contested two matches against India in Sydney as a prelude to the four-match Test series.

The 27-year-old tore through the Indians' middle and lower-orders in the three-day game at Drummoyne Oval to finish with 5-37.

He was then a late addition to the following three-day game at the SCG as a concussion substitute for fellow quick Harry Conway, where he shared the new-ball with Abbott and picked up the key wickets of India opener Prithvi Shaw and stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane.

Steketee also impressed on the final day of Queensland's Shield win against South Australia at Glenelg Oval before the four-day competition went into hiatus, snaring 4-43 from 28 overs as the Bulls snatched victory late on day four.

His long-time friend and teammate Marnus Labuschagne claimed yesterday that Steketee, who made his first-class debut six years ago, was ready to take the next step to international representation in either the first-class or limited-overs formats.

"Me and Stekkers have been actually playing together since we were 12, and he's developed so much," Labuschagne said yesterday after the pair celebrated Brisbane Heat's surge into the finals of BBL|10, before the make-up of the Test and T20 squad was known.

"He has a real hunger and he almost has that little bit of aggression which is great, and he's performed really well for us in all formats – Shield cricket, one-day cricket and the T20s.

"He's a tremendous fighter when he's out in the field.

"I've seen him bowl some really good spells, probably that spell he bowled in Adelaide to win us the last Shield game we played (stands out).

"I don't know which is his best format, I'd have to go and look at the stats sheet and see what that says but I feel like any of the formats he could jump into."

The Test touring party also includes Victoria pair Will Pucovski and James Pattinson, who were sidelined due to injury in the final stages of the Vodafone Series.

Pattinson did not rejoin the Test squad after returning home following the second Test in Melbourne and damaging his ribs in a fall, while Pucovski suffered a shoulder subluxation injury in a fielding mishap during his Test debut at the SCG earlier this month.

In Pucovski's absence, another Victorian Marcus Harris was recalled to open Australia's innings alongside David Warner in the final Test at the Gabba, where he scored 5 and 38.

The absence of Wade in the touring party opens the door for former vice-captain Travis Head to reclaim the place he lost after the second Test at the MCG, although selectors might also opt to add Pucovski to the middle-order and keep Harris as opener.

The other batting option available to the selectors if they look to make further changes to the line-up that squandered a 1-0 Test series lead to lose to India on home turf is allrounder Moises Henriques, who was part of the squad throughout the Vodafone Series without playing.

Carey might also come under consideration as a pure batter given his recent form in BBL|10, where he plundered the competition's first century of the summer last week, but it seems likely he will remain on standby should skipper Paine succumb to injury or illness. 

Much was made of the workload undertaken by Australia's three-pronged pace attack that remained unchanged throughout the India series (with support provided by 21-year-old allrounder Cameron Green), but they will be given opportunity to recharge with minimal cricket between now and next month's departure date.

Should Australia opt to follow the template employed so successfully – through necessity caused by injuries to incumbents – by India and refresh the fast bowling complement from Test-to-Test, only Pattinson boasts previous Test experience.

Neser has been a member of Australia's Test squad for the past two years but has yet to receive a Baggy Green cap, while Abbott and Steketee will be next in line should replacements be needed for Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and/or Mitchell Starc.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon also came under scrutiny with nine wickets at 55.11 this summer as India's batters survived and then prospered on day-five pitches in Sydney and Brisbane to secure a memorable series win against the odds.

Like Steketee, auxiliary spinner Swepson was in stellar form during the first four rounds of the Shield competition as the leading wicket-taker with 23 at an average of 21.17 and three five-wicket hauls among that tally.

The only element of the Test team that seems unlikely to be subject to potential change is the top-order batting where Labuschagne and Steve Smith topped Australia's averages and aggregates across the four-Test campaign.

Labuschagne also entrenched himself immediately behind Smith as the number-three ranked Test batter in the world after finishing the India series with 426 runs at an average of 53.25 with a century in the final match on his home ground.

He will be further motivated by the chance to return to the country of his birth to play Test cricket for the first time, having made a triumphant tour to South Africa last year where he scored his maiden ODI hundred in the final match of the brief limited-overs tour.

"I love Test cricket," Labuschagne said yesterday when asked about the prospect of revisiting his former homeland.

"It's always exciting when you get to play the best opposition.

"We just played against one of the best oppositions (India) and to go to South Africa, and to have to win there is an exciting challenge and I'm looking forward to it."

Australia Test squad for Qantas Tour of South Africa: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.