Jhye Richardson has beaten Michael Neser in the race to replace Josh Hazlewood from Australia playing XI for the day-night Test starting December 16. Skipper Pat Cummins announced the playing XI for the second Test of the series and announced that the pacer will return to the Australia Test side after a big gap of three years.
Also, in a welcome relief for the hosts, Cummins announced that David Warner, who hurt his ribs while batting in the first innings of the Gabba Test, has been selected to play the second Test of the series. However, he conceded that the opener is not 100 per cent fit to get going but nevertheless backed him to bank on adrenaline after walking out to the field and play through some discomfort.
"He’ll be right. He had a bat yesterday, batted with a bit of discomfort but knowing Davey, he’s not going to miss this one. Once adrenaline and everything kicks in, (he’ll be) a little bit sore but he’ll be fine,” Cummins said of Warner’s fitness to reporters in Adelaide.
"It’s one thing batting in the nets but another thing when you walk out and it’s a packed crowd. I don’t think he had any kind of painkillers or anything yesterday. He’s played close to 90 Tests, I’m sure a lot of them have been played in discomfort or with (niggles) going into the game. He’ll be fine tomorrow."
Australia were dealing with two serious injury concerns of Hazlewood and Warner and would be satisfied with Warner holding his fitness just good enough to feature in the game.
Hazlewood suffered a side strain in the first Test and while he is expected to return in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, the nature of the injury could also rule him out of the game for an extended period of time and hence Australia will be eager to not let the winning momentum go at the Adelaide Oval.