Ashes Tracker: Renshaw, Harris and Handscomb banging down the door after Bancroft’s bumper Sheffield Shield season

David Warner remains the main man under the magnifying glass after a flat 12 months and the contenders to replace him have all built irrefutable cases for contention.

The opening round of the County Championship season and Australia A’s tour of New Zealand has only further muddied the waters.

Marcus Harris, who appears the frontrunner to succeed either of Warner or Usman Khawaja when the selectors or retirement comes knocking, bolstered his hopes with a second-innings ton (148) for Gloucestershire which followed a half-century (59) in the first dig. That made for a fine week for Harris, who was also handed a Cricket Australia contract.

Snapping at Harris’ heels is Matthew Renshaw, who flourished for Australia A in New Zealand. The left-hander amassed 332 runs across four innings, notching two tons and a half-century.

Cameron Bancroft had the best Sheffield Shield season (945 runs at 59.06) of any of the opening contenders and started his county season reasonably well for division one side Somerset, notching 44 in the first innings but a duck in the second.

Lower down the batting order, Peter Handscomb put his name up in lights for Leicestershire pairing a first innings century with a second innings 68 – a performance that should go some way to quelling concerns over his technique in English conditions.

Following the opening round of the county season, we look at how Australia’s Ashes squad is shaping up.

Batters

Usman Khawaja – lock

Australia’s best batter in India and the world’s top Test run-scorer (1608 at 69.91) since returning to the XI in the last Ashes, Khawaja is certain to feature in the squad and the XI that plays the first Test. The languid left-hander will be hoping for a happier return after being dropped three Tests into the 2019 tour, which he entered short on rhythm after suffering a hamstring injury.

David Warner – lock

Barring retirement after the World Test Championship final, Warner will feature in Australia’s Ashes squad. Whether he actually plays the first Test is less certain, with chief selector George Bailey and coach Andrew McDonald both dropping short of backing him. Warner is averaging 26.39 since the start of 2022, with that number padded by his MCG double century. He has a history of performing with his back to the wall, but has struggled in England in the past – notably averaging 9.5 in the 2019 Ashes.

Marnus Labuschagne – lock

It was in the 2019 Ashes that Labuschagne showed the first real hints of the batting phenom we now know. The world’s No.1 Test batter will be looking to get the runs flowing in their usual fashion after a Border-Gavaskar campaign that featured just one half-century. He notched four 50s from seven innings on the 2019 tour.

Steve Smith – lock

Smith enjoyed the finest series of his career last time Australia toured England, averaging 110.57, scoring three centuries and passing 50 in six of his seven innings. If he can produce similar numbers this time around he could climb to second for the most Ashes runs of all time – his 3044 has him fifth currently, trailing Steve Waugh (3173), Allan Border (3222), Jack Hobbs (3636) and Don Bradman (5028).

Travis Head – lock

If there is an Australian capable of matching England shot-for-shot in its Bazball ways, it’s Head. The South Australian has improved vastly since the 2019 tour (191 runs at 27.28), and goes into the Ashes in the form of his life. He has averaged 69.09 with a strike rate of 85.01 since the start of the Australian summer and in India he showed what he can do in any conditions if he is given the chance.

Marcus Harris – probable

Selectors gave the clearest indicator yet that Harris is their man to succeed Warner when they named him in Australia’s central contract list ahead of fellow opening contenders Cameron Bancroft and Matthew Renshaw. He followed up that show of faith with a ton for Gloucestershire in the County Championship’s second division.

Cameron Bancroft – contender

Unsighted at Test level since Australia’s last Ashes tour, Bancroft has done virtually all he can to get another crack at the game’s highest level. The West Australian opener was the Sheffield Shield’s top run-scorer (945 at 59.06), finishing 289 runs clear of the next best run-getter. Selector George Bailey believes the opener is batting as well as he ever has. He notched 44 batting at first drop for Somerset in its first match of the County Championship division one season.

Matthew Renshaw – contender

Despite a lacklustre tour of India, Renshaw should be in selectors’ thoughts for England. The lanky left-hander helped himself to two centuries and an average of 83 across four innings for Australia A in New Zealand, backing up a Sheffield Shield season in which he averaged 51. A proven ability to bat anywhere in the order could give him the edge over Harris, Bancroft and Handscomb.

Peter Handscomb – outsider

Handscomb forced his way back into the Test arena via weight of runs in the Sheffield Shield and was one of Australia’s better performers in India. He bolstered his hopes of selection via county runs, scoring a century in his first outing of the season for division two side Leicestershire. He is playing as a wicketkeeper-batter for the Foxes, but it would be a surprise if Australia’s selectors considered him for any more than a specialist batting role. The form of Australia’s middle order, compared to its top order, makes him a less likely prospect for selection than Harris, Bancroft and Renshaw.

All-rounders

Cameron Green – lock

Green’s importance to Australia’s XI was underlined in India, where his sizeable presence was missed as the team lost the first two Tests. His return coincided with a win in the third Test, and he followed that up with a maiden ton in the fourth. His ability as a frontline bowler will be essential across a long five-Test tour.

Aaron Hardie – contender

Given how important Green has become to the balance of the Australian XI, adequate back-up may be required in England. Green’s WA teammate Hardie, who averages 40.48 with the bat and 29.09 with the ball in first-class cricket looks to be in a two-horse race with Victoria’s Will Sutherland for the understudy role. A ton for Australia A in New Zealand has bolstered his hopes.

Will Sutherland – contender

Big performances in the Sheffield Shield final have always counted for plenty with selectors, so Sutherland did his cause no harm when he paired a five-wicket haul with a second innings 83 in last month’s decider. While he finished on the losing side, the performance was the cherry on top of a season in which he finished as the Sheffield Shield’s top wicket-taker (41 at 19.92) and took important strides forward with the bat, registering a maiden first-class ton.

Wicketkeepers

Alex Carey – lock

After some early wobbles, Carey has made the wicketkeeping spot his own for the foreseeable future. While he had a tough time with the bat in India, his work behind the stumps was exemplary.

Josh Inglis – probable

Despite a middling year of Sheffield Shield cricket, not helped by a freak golf injury in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, Inglis looks the firm favourite to deputise for Carey at the Ashes. Weighing in his favour is the success he enjoyed in a brief stint with county side Leicestershire, averaging 42.66 for the division two side in 2021. The keeper has notched two centuries across his past five innings in all formats, one of those coming in the One-Day Cup final and the other in a Shield clash against Tasmania.

Jimmy Peirson – outsider

Queensland Cricket has long held the belief Peirson is a Test quality wicketkeeper and he is an exceptional batter too – his first-class record (six tons, avg. 34.75) rivals Carey’s (six tons, avg. 33.59) and Inglis’ (four tons, avg., 32.88). He notched a handy 30 for Australia A against New Zealand, and took five catches for the match, including one exceptional take off the toe of the bat of a reverse-sweeping Dean Foxcroft.

Quicks

Pat Cummins – lock

Australia’s captain looms as the biggest challenge to Bazball yet. The seamer has taken 29 wickets at 19.62 in England to date. Since becoming Australia captain, Cummins has taken three five-fors across 15 Tests.

Mitchell Starc – lock

Only turned to once in the 2019 Ashes, Starc will expect to play a bigger role in 2023. Hampered by a finger injury through the Border-Gavaskar campaign, the left-armer was back to his best in the ODI series that followed.

Josh Hazlewood – lock

If he makes it through the IPL and WTC final unscathed, Hazlewood will be in the Ashes squad. The Bendemeer Bullet has played just eight Tests since the start of 2020 due to an irksome run of injuries but remains a certain starter when fit. Hazlewood was sent home from the India tour with an Achilles issue but is expected to return to playing duties in the IPL in the next week.

Scott Boland – lock

Boland made the step-up to Test cricket look easy in the last Ashes, and he has continued to make it look easy ever since with a scarcely believable average of 13.42 across seven Tests. He’ll be pushing for selection no matter who’s fit.

Lance Morris – probable

Yet to debut but a constant in Australia’s Test squad since the South Africa series, Morris could consider himself hard done by if he misses out on selection. Australia’s fastest bowler right now, Morris took 31 wickets at 19.96 in the Sheffield Shield and is set to join county side Northamptonshire.

Michael Neser – probable

First picked in an Australian Test squad in the 2019 Ashes, Neser has been a near-constant in the group since but only been picked to play twice. The Queenslander took 40 wickets to the tune of 16.67 in the last Sheffield Shield season, and continued to build his claim as a genuine all-rounder, scoring a ton and averaging 35.70.

Sean Abbott – outsider

On the periphery of Test selection discussions for about half a decade, Abbott is there or thereabouts again heading into the Ashes. The NSW seamer has taken five-fors in each of his past two first-class outings, with the most recent coming for Surrey in division one of the County Championship. If he can continue that form in England, he could be a smokey for selection. Like Neser, he verges on all-rounder status.

Spencer Johnson – outsider

It’d be the most remarkable of selections given the 27-year-old has played just four first-class matches, but express quick Spencer Johnson has certainly made an impression (20 wickets at 23.15). The left-armer took 4/53 for Australia A in the first unofficial Test against New Zealand A.

Mark Steketee – outsider

With 70 wickets at 18.44 across the past two Sheffield Shield seasons, Steketee has done almost everything he can to earn a baggy green but looks an outsider given the quality of Australia’s current pace stocks.

Spinners

Nathan Lyon – lock

Australia’s veteran offie improved as the campaign went on in India and will go into the Ashes confident – he has taken 44 wickets at 22.9 across his past three series. He only needs another 18 wickets to reach the 500 mark.

Todd Murphy – contender

The heir apparent to Lyon and now established as the country’s second best spinner, Murphy will be hoping to follow up his Cricket Australia contract with an Ashes squad selection. His fate could rest on whether selectors want the security of a second spinner in the squad – in 2019 Lyon was the sole specialist – and if so, whether they want the variety of left-arm finger spinner or leggie.

Matthew Kuhnemann – outsider

A surprise mid-series call-up in India, Kuhnemann made an impression, taking nine wickets and claiming 5/16 on the Indore bunsen burner. His hopes of selection have been bolstered by an impressive first outing for Durham in the County Championship’s second division. He took six wickets in a losing cause, including 4/70 in the fourth innings.

Mitchell Swepson – outsider

Left out of Australia’s XI for all four Border-Gavaskar Tests, Swepson has found himself behind Murphy and Queensland teammate Kuhnemann in the spin bowling pecking order. He bolstered his hopes of selection with Australia A, topping the wicket-taking charts in the unofficial two Test series (nine wickets at 35.33) but it would be a surprise if he was on the plane to England.

Current predicted squad

David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Matthew Renshaw/Aaron Hardie, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, Lance Morris, Michael Neser, Nathan Lyon