“I’ll only give him a couple of Test matches” - Brad Hogg on David Warner’s poor form heading into Ashes 2023
Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has stated that veteran opener David Warner should be dropped from the playing XI if he doesn’t perform in the first couple of Ashes 2023 Tests.
Australia and England will resume their legendary rivalry with the first Test of the upcoming Ashes, which begins at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Friday, June 16. While Warner has been retained and has also been backed by the management, his performances are likely to be under the scanner owing to his poor recent form.
While sharing his thoughts on Australia’s squad for Ashes 2023, Hogg opined that it will be imperative for Warner to grab his chances at the start of the series.
“Warner has been struggling over the last year or two. There are big question marks on him. I’ll only give him a couple of Test matches. If he doesn’t make any runs early on, I’ll have to make a change there,” Hogg said on his YouTube channel.
Since the start of 2021, Warner has scored 958 runs in 20 Tests at an average of 29.03, with just one hundred-plus score to his name.
Hogg added that Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, who have impressive records in England conditions, are going to be tough opponents for the hosts. The 52-year-old, however, isn’t totally convinced about Travis Head despite his World Test Championship (WTC) final heroics.
The former left-arm wrist-spinner commented:
“They’ve [England] got to really expose Travis Head. Head has probably been the best batsman for Australia over the last year, but he has got a weakness with the short ball and this is where England need Ben Stokes to be fully fit to be able to bowl short sharp spells at someone like Head, who struggles with the ball at the body. That will be a big contest.”
Head smashed 163 off 174 balls in the WTC 2023 final as Australia beat India by 209 runs at The Oval.
“I would not play Hazlewood in the first Test” - Hogg on Australia’s bowling line-up
While fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has been declared fit for the first Ashes 2023 Test, Hogg said that he wouldn’t play the right-arm pacer straightaway.
Elaborating on his thoughts, Hogg explained:
“I would not play Hazlewood in the first Test because he hasn’t played [a lot] over the last couple of years and that would be a huge risk for the first Test match. I would go with [Scott] Boland.”
Boland was highly impressive in the WTC final, claiming five wickets, including the big ones of Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja on Day 5.