The fifth and final Test of the 2025-26 Ashes series between Australia and England is taking place at Sydney Cricket Ground. For the red-ball match which kicked off on Sunday (January 4), Australia have
made one change to their playing XI. Batting all-rounder Beau Webster, who also bowls medium pace, is making his Ashes debut at the same venue where 12 months back he made his Test debut against India. He replaced fast bowler Jhye Richardson in Australia’s line-up. But surprisingly once again there was no place for spinner Todd Murphy.
Murphy, who made his Test debut for the Baggy Greens against India in Nagpur on February 9, 2023, and picked up a 7-wicket haul (7/124) in the first innings, was surprisingly left out.
Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald hinted at Murphy’s inclusion in the playing XI for the fifth and final Test of the 2025-26 Ashes, but he was not considered. The exclusion of Murphy led Australia to play the Test in Sydney without a specialist spinner in the playing XI.
This is the first time in 138 years that Australia are playing a Test match at Sydney Cricket Ground without a spinner.
Sydney Cricket Ground is known to provide some help to the spinners, but Australia’s decision to go with an all-pace attack has raised few eyebrows.
Most wickets in Tests at SCG
| PLAYER | COUNTRY | ROLE | MATCHES | WICKETS | BEST FIGURES | 5-WKT HAULS |
| Shane Warne | Australia | Spinner | 14 | 64 | 7/56 | 4 |
| Stuart MacGill | Australia | Spinner | 8 | 53 | 7/50 | 5 |
| Glenn McGrath | Australia | Fast bowler | 12 | 50 | 5/48 | 2 |
| Nathan Lyon | Australia | Spinner | 14 | 49 | 5/50 | 2 |
| Charlie Turner | Australia | Fast bowler | 6 | 45 | 7/43 | 4 |
England are also playing without a specialist spinner in the fifth Ashes Test at SCG. The Poms included spinner Shoaib Bashir in their final 12 for the New Year’s Test at SCG, but they picked fast bowler Matthew Potts as Gus Atkinson’s replacement over him.
Bashir, who is England’s first-choice spin bowler in Tests since he made his Test debut against India in the first week of February 2024 in Visakhapatnam, didn’t get a chance to play any of the five Tests of the ongoing Ashes series.
England’s team management instead decided to include batting all-rounder Will Jacks, who is a right-arm off-break bowler, in the XI for the last three Tests over Bashir.
