For the first time in more than a decade, Australia will play the first Test of a home summer without both Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. In the absence of two of their "Big Three", two of their long-term understudies will step into the hottest of cauldrons.
If news of Cummins’ absence from the Ashes series opener tilted the balance of the favourites tag level, the update this weekend that Hazlewood will also be on the sidelines tipped the weight towards England. Both have terrorised England for the last 10 years, between them taking 167 of the England wickets to fall in Australia since 2015.
While the Cummins blow was softened by the cushion of Scott Boland, those six wickets at the MCG four years ago still etched on the memory of England fans who were still watching, Hazlewood’s injury means Australia have had to delve deeper into their reserves. Jhye Richardson, who took a five-for last time he was called-up as an Ashes replacement, is out of action, as is Sean Abbott, who was originally named in Australia’s first Test squad. That fragility among Australia’s second string means South Australia quick Brendan Doggett is almost certain to make his Test debut.
Doggett first among the handful of Australian quicks who would likely have more Test caps to their name if it wasn’t for the solidity of their bowling blueprint. At 31 years old, he’s taken 89 wickets at 20.19 in domestic cricket over the last three seasons, during the prime years of his career. The final of the last Sheffield Shield season saw that golden run reach its zenith, when he took 10 wickets in a game for the first time in his career, and was named Player of the Match in the final. He got Usman Khawaja twice in that game.
However, he had infiltrated the fringes of Australia’s fast-bowling group before that, following impressing for Australia A against India A ahead of the senior Test series last year. He took six wickets in the first innings, forcing a collapse to 107 all out. When Hazlewood was ruled out of the second Test of that series, Doggett was called-up to the senior squad. Again, he ran the drinks with Abbott as Boland shuffled up the queue and into the starting seat, but when the squads for Australia’s series in West Indies were announced in June, Doggett had leapfrogged Abbott in the selection line.
Are Australia actually better off with Steve Smith as captain?
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) November 15, 2025
🎥 @Aadya_Wisden pic.twitter.com/wPqpgikur8
Despite having been previously called up to cover for Hazlewood’s injuries, it is Cummins’ absence that Doggett might be able to lessen the most. Cummins generally only takes the new ball in Test matches Hazlewood hasn’t played, while Hazlewood has only come on as first change once in the last five years. Doggett often doesn’t take the new ball in Shield cricket, and the 10 he took in last year’s final all came after the quicks had had their opening bursts. By his own acknowledgement, his presence in the attack will give it a different feel than the big, nasty quicks England are used to facing Down Under.
"They're tall quicks,” Doggett told the media this morning. “They get a lot of bounce. I'm obviously just a little bit skiddier, but I try and move the ball off the wicket both ways and try to swing the ball away from a right-hander. I try and emulate them as much as I can. Hopefully a little bit of a point of difference for me might help.”
That difference could mean Doggett pairs up with Michael Neser as Starc and Boland’s henchmen. Neser hasn’t played a Test match since 2022 but was called-up after Hazlewood went down over the weekend. Injuries have hampered Neser’s international career since then, but a strong Shield season last year where he took 31 wickets at 20.90 saw him back in contention. Neser’s appeal is the options he gives, opening the bowling in domestic cricket while also capable of keeping it tight with an older ball. Equally, he lessens the loss of the runs Cummins would have brought down the order – he batted at seven in the latest Sheffield Shield round and has five first-class hundreds.
Both Doggett and Neser are well into their thirties, and keep the Australia squad’s average age slap bang in the middle of the millennial bracket. By contrast, England’s groups straddle the Gen-Zennial cross-over almost perfectly. The hold their three heavyweights have maintained over the pace standings for the last decade means that, despite their domestic seniority, the two back-ups they’ve landed on are still a leap of faith.
If they provide a firm landing in Perth later this week, the favourites tag will have been well and truly wrestled back into Australia’s hands.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
