Mark Taylor urges Test selectors to 'go for the jugular' as Australia reveal Pat Cummins coin toss call
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Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith was expected to confirm Australia's team for the Gabba Test at a press conference on Wednesday.
His refusal to do so said it all.
Immediately as the presser in Brisbane got underway Smith was asked who would come into the side after it was confirmed on Tuesday that Usman Khawaja was out.
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He said he wouldn't be naming a team and confirmed that there were still moving pieces to be decided.
The elephant in the room was Pat Cummins, who missed the first Test with a back injury but is reportedly still in the frame to return when Thursday's pink-ball Test gets underway, despite not being named in the squad for the second Test when it was unveiled last week.
The other big question related to the Khawaja replacement, with Smith again ducking the question although it has been widely reported that Josh Inglis will come into the side, likely to bat at No.5 or No.6, which would guarantee that Travis Head would again open following his Perth heroics.
Australia's Josh Inglis plays a shot against West Indies. AP
Inglis is a 30-year-old who was born in Leeds, England, in what is an added Ashes element.
Khawaja was ruled out earlier in the week with the back injury that limited him in Perth and left him effectively as a spectator.
Inglis has seemingly got the nod over Tasmanian Beau Webster, who held the spot in the middle order for most of 2025 in Cameron Green's absence.
Inglis has played three Test matches for Australia, all in 2025, but this will likely be his debut on Aussie soil.
He will bat at six, with Green elevated to five.
Cummins, meanwhile, hasn't yet been ruled out of a shock return, with reports suggesting he will be given until the final possible moments.
Pat Cummins of Australia celebrates after taking the wicket of Harry Brook of England. Getty
Smith said Cummins was bowling well and anything was still possible.
"He looks pretty good to me, the way he has bowled in the nets," Smith said of the skipper.
"Obviously games are different intensity, but he's tracking really nicely and knows his body well and we'll wait and see."
Steve Smith fronts media ahead of the second Ashes Test in Brisbane. Nine
The Cummins question mark means pace bowler Brendan Doggett will have to wait to find out if he will maintain his spot in the XI.
Australia will be looking to continue their dominance in pink ball cricket and grab a 2-0 lead over England in Queensland.
Cricket Australia said the XI would be announced at the coin toss.
Pat Cummins of Australia inspects the pitch at The Oval. ICC via Getty Images
"I tell you right now, if Pat Cummins is ready to go, it'd be hard to leave him out," former Test captain Mark Taylor told 2GB's Wide World of Sports.
"Because if Australia picked him tomorrow, and he's bowling at his best, and all of a sudden you add in obviously Mitch Starc who's probably bowling as well as he's bowled in his career right now, and Scotty Boland, who found the right length the other day in Perth, you add him to that combination, and you've got obviously (Cameron) Green, maybe (Beau) Webster, Nathan Lyon...
Mark Taylor interviews Steve Smith in Melbourne. Getty
"Australia might go all out attack to try and win this Test match, which I rather like, because if they go 2-0 up, they're just about unbeatable.
"It'd be very hard for England to win the last three Test matches in Australia to win the series, so I don't mind that.
"If Pat Cummins is ready to go, I'd be saying let's get him in, let's go for the jugular."
- with Sam Worthington
