{"id":483882,"date":"2025-12-16T01:07:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T02:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=483882"},"modified":"2025-12-16T23:22:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:22:01","slug":"khawaja-misses-out-as-cummins-lyon-named-to-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=483882","title":{"rendered":"Khawaja misses out as Cummins, Lyon named to return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\ufeffADELAIDE: <\/strong><a>P\ufeffat Cummins<\/a> has confirmed two changes to Australia&#x27;s side for the third Ashes Test, with he and Nathan Lyon returning to the team.<\/p>\n<p>The addition of those two means Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett miss out, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/person\/usman-khawaja-5p0\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Usman Khawaja\">Usman Khawaja<\/a> also won&#x27;t play.<\/p>\n<p>Travis Head faced new balls at the nets during Tuesday&#x27;s optional session, and Cummins said &quot;we were pretty happy&quot; with the batting line-up\ufeff at his press conference.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/paralympics\/paralympics-news-2025-nicholas-hum-death-long-jump-australian-athletics-statement-20251216-p5no1q.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>&#x27;Much-loved&#x27; Paralympic bronze medallist dies<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/news-2025-ryan-papenhuyzen-taking-next-year-off-melbourne-storm-frank-ponissi-comments-20251216-p5nnyl.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>&#x27;Got plenty left&#x27;: Storm optimistic about star&#x27;s return<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/football\/premier-league-2025-manchester-united-bournemouth-antoine-semenyo-diogo-dalot-throat-grab-video-20251216-p5no0q.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Man United fans livid after throat grab double standard<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Head and Jake Weatherald were the two who were last out of the nets, with Cummins confirming Josh Inglis will stay at No.7 in the batting order.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"0693ea1a-911b-42bf-9e78-2a96247b98cb\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/0693ea1a-911b-42bf-9e78-2a96247b98cb\" alt=\"\" data-width=\"5673\" data-height=\"3191\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Australian captain explained the Khawaja call ultimately came down to Head&#x27;s performance in Perth. \ufeff<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I think the big thing that&#x27;s shifted on us was Trav opening after that first Test and how good that&#x27;s looked with Weathers,&quot; Cummins said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;\ufeffWe were pretty happy with that batting lineup and didn&#x27;t feel a need to change the middle order.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"2d3bb4f3-2cd0-453a-8e55-414f2356f5b1\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2d3bb4f3-2cd0-453a-8e55-414f2356f5b1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"PERTH, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 21: Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Steve Smith of Australia sing the national anthem during day one of the First 2025\/26 Ashes Series Test Match between Australia and England at Perth Stadium on November 21, 2025 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane - CA\/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)\" data-width=\"4816\" data-height=\"2709\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Asked if Head could be a long-term opener for Australia, Cummins said he wasn&#x27;t looking that far ahead.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;At the\ufeff moment, it makes sense now, that might change,&quot; he said.<\/p>\n<p>\ufeff&quot;In the past, he&#x27;s done bits and bobs on different tours where it felt like it made sense. He&#x27;ll do this week. Each week, you look at what this game needs, but it feels like with the current line-up, we&#x27;ve got plenty of flexibility in the squad. Who knows, but it looks pretty good at the moment.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"0df68e63-aa3c-4de2-8aef-bf37ffc06919\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0df68e63-aa3c-4de2-8aef-bf37ffc06919-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-width=\"3840\" data-height=\"2160\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Cummins said Khawaja&#x27;s reaction had been about the team and made mention of the others who missed out. \ufeff<\/p>\n<p>&quot;He&#x27;s a real team man, he&#x27;ll do whatever the team needs,&quot; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#x27;s not only Uzzy, [but] you&#x27;ve got Beau Webster [who] has missed out on these three Tests, Neser got a five-wicket haul [and] Doggett playing the first two Tests and doing really well. There&#x27;s a disappointed group of players, but they&#x27;ve all been fantastic around the group\ufeff.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Cummins did say he can &quot;absolutely see a path back&quot; for Khawaja. \ufeff<\/p>\n<p>The fast bowler also stated he won&#x27;t be on bowling restrictions after missing out on the first two Tests through injury. \ufeff<\/p>\n<p>Steve Smith also missed training on Monday due to illness, but returned to the nets for the optional Tuesday session.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>\ufeffADELAIDE: P\ufeffat Cummins has confirmed two changes to Australia&#x27;s side for the third Ashes Test, with he and Nathan Lyon returning to the team. The <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=483882\" title=\"Khawaja misses out as Cummins, Lyon named to return\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":480910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483882"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=483882"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":483887,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483882\/revisions\/483887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/480910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=483882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=483882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=483882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}