Australia's head of selectors George Bailey has admitted the home side have a major headache to work out ahead of the fourth Test.
With Josh Hazlewood fighting to prove his fitness, Mitchell Swepson vying for a spot, Scott Boland taking staggering figures at the MCG, and both Michael Neser and Jhye Richardson having performed strongly in Adelaide before sitting out in Melbourne, Australia could have eight bowlers vying for the four spots.
Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon might be the first choice attack, but there is no guarantee they will be the four bowlers who run out onto the Sydney Cricket Ground for the fourth Test of an already won Ashes series next week.
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Bailey told the press on Thursday morning that it was a good problem to have for the home side.
“It’s a great headache,” Bailey said.
“We don’t mind a headache at this time of year.
“I’d much rather have that headache and some tough decisions to make than scratching our heads trying to find a solution to a problem, so I’m looking forward to working through that one and some hard conversations to have at some stage but would love nothing more than to have a full squad to be able to pick from,"
Despite Boland's incredible wicket-taking exploits in Melbourne, and the surely tempting fate of playing Swepson in Sydney, Bailey hinted at the idea that none of the bowlers would be rested.
“No one is ever resting, particularly the fast bowlers, there’s no such thing as a rest because if they’re not playing, they’re working their backsides off to get their physical conditioning right,” Bailey said.
“We need to stop using that word.
“But we also need to understand that there are different stages, not just this series but at different stages, there’s a hell of a lot of cricket and that’s a challenge.
“Talk about good headaches, the fact we’ve got Pat, Josh and Mitch as three premier world class fast bowlers across all three formats is a great problem. I couldn’t speak more highly of ‘Starcy’ this series on the face of Hoff not being there, Patty missing the second Test, I’d echo Pat’s words from the other day, I think he’s stepped up and led the attack and bowling as well as I’ve ever seen him.
“Our quicks, in particular, not having as heavy a workload as they did in Adelaide and a couple of extra days’ off will work in their favour.”
The fourth Test gets underway on January 5.
