David Warner has been declared fit to play as Australia announced their playing XI for the pink-ball Test against England in Adelaide starting December 16. Meanwhile, Jhye Richardson has been named as injured Josh Hazlewood’s replacement.
Australia’s incumbent opener Warner didn’t take the field after being hit on the rib by Ben Stokes on day 2 of the Gabba Test. X-rays cleared him of a break and Australia were confident enough in his fitness to confirm their XI the day before the match.
Although he looked in discomfort during the net session on Tuesday night but Pat Cummins confirmed that Warner will be fine ‘when the adrenalin kicks’.
On the other hand, Jhye Richardson was expected to replace Josh Hazlewood. He made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2019 before suffering a serious shoulder injury that required two operations. Jhye has looked good with the pink ball in the training leading upto the Adelaide Test and is expected to rile up some good pace.
“Jhye has been battling his way back since…but if we got back to 2019 he played two really good Tests and was on the verge of an Ashes series and a World Cup before his shoulder injury. He’s worked incredibly hard, had a great start to this year for WA and we think he’s firing,” Cummins added.
Australia playing XI: Marcus Harris, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Jhye Richardson
