Australia announce squad for final two BGT Tests with big changes
Australia have announced the 15-member squad for the final two Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests which will take place in Melbourne and Sydney.
Australia's young opener Nathan McSweeney who made his much-awaited debut during the Perth Test will miss the rest of the Border-Gavaskar Test series following series of dismal outings with the bat. In the three Test matches thus far, McSweeney has scored 10, 0, 39, 10*, 9, and 4.
Fast bowler Jhye Richardson has also been included now that he had bounced back from a miserable run of ailments that had plagued him since his last Test match, the 2021–22 Ashes. He can find a spot in the team in Josh Hazlewood's absence who has been dropped due to an injury.
Nathan McSweeney has been replaced by Sam Konstas in the squad, a 19-year-old opener from New South Wales. Before the season, Konstas was vying for the position that David Warner had left open, but the management decided to start with McSweeney instead.
Konstas is coming into the Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad while boosting a terrific record across all formats. He recently made his Big Bash League debut with the Sydney Thunder in December 2024. He opened with David Warner and scored the fastest half-century in Sydney Thunder history with a scorching 57 off 26 balls.
Sam Konstas is set to become Australia's youngest Test batting debutant in over 70 years. The right-hander would be Australia's youngest Test debutant since current captain Pat Cummins, who made his debut against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2011 at the age of 18 years 193 days if he were to be given a Baggy Green cap on Boxing Day.
Chair of Selectors George Bailey said, "Sam gets a call up to the Test squad for the first time. His style of batting offers a point of difference and we look forward to watching his game develop further. We remain confident Nathan has the ability and temperament to succeed at Test level in the future. It was a difficult decision to leave him out. It has clearly been a challenge at the top of the order for batters throughout the series and we want to provide the option of a different line up for the next two matches"
Pat Cummins (c), Travis Head (vc), Steve Smith (vc), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
