Ashes 5th Test LIVE Updates – Australia Playing XI: Backed by twin centuries on Test comeback, Usman Khawaja has retained his place in the Australian Playing XI for the 5th & final Ashes test. Australian captain Pat Cummins announced that Marcus Harris will be dropped & Khawaja will open for Australia in Hobart: Follow Ashes 2022 LIVE updates on InsideSport.IN
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Ashes 5th Test LIVE Updates: Usman Khawaja stays in Australian Playing XI, Marcus Harris dropped: Follow LIVE Updates
Australia Playing XI – Usman Khawaja to Open: Khawaja’s irresistible form has seen him hold his place for the Ashes finale in Hobart but his promotion up the order has come at the expense of opener Marcus Harris.
Pat Cummins today confirmed Travis Head would reclaim the No.5 position he was forced to vacate for the Sydney Test after contracting COVID-19 and being forced into isolation in Melbourne following Australia’s series victory.
Khawaja’s twin hundreds in his remarkable return to Test cricket last week after a two-and-a-half-year absence has seen Harris squeezed out of the XI to face England at Blundstone Arena in the series’ second-day-night contest.
Praised for his Test-high 76 in the low-scoring third Test at the MCG, Harris has nonetheless been axed after making 179 runs at 29.83 for the series and now with no centuries to show from 14 Tests.
But Australia are yet to decide on the make-up of their bowling unit for Hobart, with Cummins and selectors waiting to see how Scott Boland fares at training this evening at Blundstone Arena.
Jhye Richardson is also pushing for a return to the side following his impressive pink-ball effort in Adelaide where he took a final-day five-wicket haul.
- First Test: Australia won by 9 wickets.
- Second Test: Australia won by 275 runs
- Third Test: Australia won by an innings and 14 runs
- Fourth Test: Match drawn
- Fifth Test: January 14-18, Hobat, Blundstone Arena
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