Less than three months from the start of the highly anticipated series, there is no obvious answer to the question “who will open batting for Australia in the 2025/26 Ashes at home?”
David Warner’s retirement last year prompted Steve Smith to – to the surprise of many – step out of his comfort zone and open the batting for Australia in Test cricket. It did not work out, and Smith is now back to plundering runs from No.4.
While Smith is unlikely to open again for Australia in Test cricket, someone has to – and it is not clear who. Here are the options.
Usman Khawaja
It may not be an exaggeration to say that Khawaja – who will turn 39 during the Ashes – is past his prime. He had an exceptional year in 2023, but the numbers have tailed off since then. From the start of 2024, he averages 31.28, while a quarter of his runs – 232 out of Australia’s 654-6 – came in a single innings at Galle.
Khawaja will still make it, but that is largely because Australia are short on options. The England team management will have noted his struggles against Jasprit Bumrah in the home summer of 2024/25.
Sam Konstas
Konstas has had a raw deal. He stunned India – and against Bumrah – on Test debut at Melbourne. Left out for the Sri Lanka series (where Australia lost only 17 wickets across two Tests) and the World Test Championship final, Konstas returned in the Caribbean. The conditions were so extreme there that, for the first time since 1888, there was no individual score in excess of 75 in a three-Test series. Konstas failed in the West Indies because... everyone failed. His Test numbers could have looked significantly different had he been part of the high-scoring Sri Lanka tour.
Nathan McSweeney
While not a bona-fide opener, McSweeney debuted as an opener against India. He looked all at sea against Bumrah, and was dropped. However, he has since opened the batting for Australia A against Sri Lanka A, and got 94 in one of the unofficial “Tests”. He is very much on the senior team's radar.
Marnus Labuschagne
Labuschagne is not an opener either, but Australia did pair him with Khawaja in the WTC final, and promptly left him out of the XI in the Caribbean. Even if he returns, it is very unlikely to be at the top. But then, Australia may want to look at his 2,855 Test runs at 55.98 on home soil.
Travis Head
Head has opened batting for Australia eight times, in 2023 and 2025, but has only done so in Asia. That makes him an unlikely opening candidate, more so because Australia would want to have him at five, the position from which he's scored eight of his nine Test hundreds.
Mitchell Marsh
Marsh hasn't played a Test match since last year, when he was dropped for the final match of the Border-Gavaskar series in Sydney. He averaged 10.42 with the bat across the first four matches of that series, and bowled just 33 overs. At the time it seemed like it could be a sliding doors moment for Marsh's Test career, but national selector George Bailed hinted that there may potentially be a role for Marsh in the Ashes. “If you look ahead to a team like England and the way they play their cricket, the way they seem to be framing up their team, I think he’s got a skill set there that could be helpful,” said Bailey in April. While Marsh has never opened for Australia, he did bat at No.3 for one match in 2016, and was backed to open in the Ashes by Michael Vaughan in May.
Cameron Bancroft
Bancroft has not played a Test match in six years, but he has been opening for (and captaining) Gloucestershire in the County Championship, having scored two centuries so far this season. The 2024/25 Sheffield Shield, however, was a particularly underwhelming one for Bancroft: he averaged 26.46, and reached three figures only once in 14 innings.
Marcus Harris
Another former Test opener with an ordinary Sheffield Shield in 2024/25 (561 runs at 33, one hundred in 18 innings), Harris was in the reckoning for an opener’s slot against India. But McSweeney pipped him to it, then Konstas followed, and Harris fell off the radar. He has been in excellent form for Lancashire in the ongoing County Championship (945 runs at 59.06), but will the Australian selectors be impressed by runs from the middle order in Division Two?
Jake Weatherald
Almost certainly the forerunner among the uncapped options is Tasmanian opener Weatherald, who will turn 31 just before the Ashes. Weatherald led the runs chart in the last Sheffield Shield with 906 runs at 50.33. His season culminated in a decisive 157-ball 145 in the final against South Australia. He followed this with 54 and 183 in his two innings against Sri Lanka A.
Campbell Kellaway
When South Africa toured Australia in 2022/23, Kellaway made 105 not out against Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, and Anrich Nortje (and Keshav Maharaj) to lift Australia XI from 25-4 to 226, showing he can handle pace. Still only 22, the Victorian made 738 runs at 41 in the last Sheffield Shield, and opened batting for Australia A this July. The selectors definitely have an eye on him.
Jason Sangha
Sangha’s 704 runs in the Sheffield Shield came at 78.22 as he finished the tournament with an unbeaten hundred in each of his last two games. Asked to lead Australia A, he responded with an unbeaten double hundred. Of course, he is not an opener, but then, neither was McSweeney or even Khawaja.
