Australia Drop Weatherald and Recall Renshaw After Darwin
One change to the squad for Mackay. Jake Weatherald pays for scores of 23 and nought, and Matt Renshaw returns for the first time since 2023.
Australia have made a single change to their squad for the second Test against Bangladesh, dropping opener Jake Weatherald and recalling Matt Renshaw.
Weatherald made 23 and nought in the defeat at Darwin. Renshaw, who is 30, has not played a Test for more than three years, his last cap coming against India in Delhi in 2023.
The squad
Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
Marnus Labuschagne keeps his place despite a lean run, which is the more interesting selection call of the two. Australia have chosen to change the top of the order rather than the middle, and they have done it after a defeat in which the batting failed twice rather than once.
The context
Only one specialist opener change is a modest response to being bowled out for 198 and 284 at home by a side ranked well below them. The selectors appear to have decided that Darwin was an aberration rather than a verdict, and that the surface at Mackay will look more familiar.
Renshaw's recall is a return to a player Australia have gone back to repeatedly without ever settling on him. He averages in the low thirties in Test cricket and has been in and out of the side since his debut a decade ago.
The second Test starts on 22 August at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay.