Star Australia all-rounder Beau Webster made a sudden comeback into the playing XI in the final Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, having been benched for the rest of the series, but his inclusion meant Marnus Labuschagne didn’t find a place in his customary slips.
Labuschagne has pulled off some brilliant catches in the slips this Ashes series, having moved into the cordon after stand-in captain Steve Smith’s late withdrawal in Adelaide.
Labuschagne started at first slip in the third Test in Adelaide, then moved to third slip when Smith returned in Melbourne. With Webster now selected for Sydney, Labuschagne is out of the cordon.
Webster’s selection came at the expense of Jhye Richardson, as Australia chose to play without a front-line spinner.
It is the first time in 138 years that the team has gone spinnerless for a Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“We have got one (change). Beau Webster is in for Jhye Richardson. (On leaving Todd Murphy out) Hate doing it, but we keep producing wickets that we don’t think are going to spin,” Smith said after being asked to field.
Webster and Cameron Green are both excellent fielders in the gully, but with both in the SCG XI, the former has shifted to third slip.
With Labuschagne stationed elsewhere on Sunday morning, former Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting called his demotion from the slips ‘almost unfathomable’, given the quality of catches he has taken.
One came on the final day in Adelaide as Australia bagged the Ashes and Labuschagne added a second brilliant catch in the same Test.
Once famed as a spinner’s paradise, the Sydney Cricket Ground has changed. With more grass on the track in recent years, last summer’s Test against India lasted just two and a half days.
Meanwhile, ace England batter Joe Root and Harry Brook led a rescue mission after England lost three wickets in a torrid opening session.
