Opening batter Jake Weatherald has been dropped from Australia’s Test squad after the side’s historic loss to Bangladesh in Darwin.
Matt Renshaw has been called into the 13-player squad for the second Test at Great Barrier Reef Stadium in Mackay, which begins on Saturday.
Weatherald made 23 and a third-ball duck in Australia’s stunning nine-wicket loss to Bangladesh.
The Darwin-born top-order batter made his debut during last summer’s Ashes series against England.
He averages 20.36 from his 12 innings in Test cricket, with a highest score of 72.
Renshaw, 30, now firms as Travis Head’s opening partner for the second Test.
Renshaw played 11 Tests between 2016 and 2018, before being dropped from the side.
He was recalled to the side in 2023, when he played three Tests.
Renshaw has a highest Test score of 184, which he scored against Pakistan at the SCG in 2017.
Under-fire Marnus Labuschagne has kept his spot in the squad despite struggling for form in recent times.
Labuschagne scored 1 and 31 in his two innings in Darwin, and has not scored a century in his previous 22 Tests, averaging 25.23 in that time.
Coach Andrew McDonald said after the first-Test loss the changes to his technique had held up well, but warned Labuschagne “needs big runs”.
He was not so complimentary of Weatherald.
“There was some change to Jake in terms of where he lined up and his movement patterns,” the coach said.
“It’s always hard to critique small sample sizes on whether it holds up. He dragged one on and drove at one in the first innings and was dismissed.
“It is probably harder with that smaller sample size to say, ‘yep, that’s going to hold up under pressure’.”
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
Bangladesh squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque Showrab, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Amite Hasan, Jaker Ali Anik, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Musfik Hasan, Litton Das, Shoriful Islam
ABC/AAP
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