Ashes: Ricky Ponting names his Australia playing XI for the series opener

Ricky Ponting (Pic: File Pic)

Ahead of the Ashes Test series against England, legendary Ricky Ponting has picked his Australia XI for the series opener.

Earlier, there were rumours about Marnus Labuschagne being included in the team and would likely open alongside traditional opening batsman, Usman Khawaja. Ponting named Brendan Doggett for the opening slot.

The former cricketer pushed Labuschagne to the third spot and said that the right-hander has done everything that he was asked to do.

"I feel that Australia's best team has Jake Weatherald opening the batting along with (Usman) Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne at three," said Ponting as quoted by the ICC.

"He's (Labuschagne) done absolutely everything that's been asked of him over the last month, scoring hundreds at will, coming back into the side at No.3," he added.

He then named Australia's middle-order batting lineup, having the likes of stalwart Steve Smith, Travis Head, Alex Carey and Cameron Green.

"Steve Smith (at) four, Travis Head (at) five, Cameron Green (at) six, Carey (at) seven," said the former cricketer.

"With (Scott) Boland, (Mitchell) Starc, probably Doggett gets the nod ahead of Michael Neser and Nathan Lyon, who was always going to play anyway, I think that will be Australia's team," he added.

The Aussies will enter the clash without the services of their star pacers, Josh Hazlewood and skipper Pat Cummins. The pace duo will miss the series opener as they have sustained an injury.

Speaking about Hazlewood, he said that his playing XI could have been different if the same question had been asked a week earlier.

"If you had asked me this (to pick the XI) a week ago, my thoughts might have been slightly different. Obviously, we've had Josh Hazlewood go down with that hamstring strain, it seems like, in the last (Sheffield) Shield game that he played. Brendan Doggett is already in the squad, he's been called in. Michael Neser has also been called into the squad now," said the 50-year-old former cricketer.

"The fact that Hazelwood is not there, they'll have Starc, Boland, probably Doggett. Do they now think that they might need some more bowling cover as far as the all-rounders are concerned? Do they now think they might need Beau Webster to be in that side as well. So there are a lot of questions that I am not really sure what the outcome or the answer is," added Ponting, who has scored 13,378 Test runs for Australia.

The first Test match between Australia and England is scheduled to be played from November 21 at the Optus Stadium in Perth.

(With ANI Inputs)