Michael Neser has been a fringe member of Australia’s Test squad for nearly four years, but the Queenslander has given national selectors plenty to ponder ahead of the final two Ashes Tests.
Neser, who initially missed out on Ashes selection, was added to Australia’s squad ahead of last month’s World Test Championship final against India at the eleventh hour as injury cover for Josh Hazlewood.
He was not required for the first three Ashes fixtures, with Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland each missing a Test as Australia rotated its bowling attack.
During the third Test at Headingley, Neser was released from Australia’s Ashes camp to play Glamorgan’s County Championship match against Leicestershire in Cardiff – and the 33-year-old didn’t waste the opportunity to push his case for selection.
Glamorgan collapsed to 7-93 on day three of the rain-affected contest before Neser rescued the hosts with a career-best 176 not out at Sophia Gardens, slapping 25 boundaries and two sixes against Leicestershire’s fatigued bowlers.
It was Neser’s second-consecutive County Championship century – he scored 123 during his previous first-class match in May, albeit against some generous bowling from Sussex’s part-timers.
The bowling all-rounder currently averages 81.16 with the bat in the County Championship, including two centuries and two fifties in seven innings. He has also taken 19 wickets at 25.63 for Glamorgan, headlined by a dazzling hat-trick against Yorkshire in May, where he claimed career-best figures of 7-32.
Since the start of last summer’s Sheffield Shield, he has averaged 52.75 with the bat and 19.56 with the ball across both first-class competitions.
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Neser will rejoin Australia’s Test squad ahead of next week’s match at Old Trafford, but barring injury, it’s unlikely he’ll feature in the fourth Ashes Test. Captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc will hopefully be rejuvenated after a nine-day break, while Josh Hazlewood is expected to return to the starting XI after missing the Headingley Test.
However, there is a three-day gap between the fourth and fifth Tests – Australian selectors have shown they are reluctant to pick the injury-prone Hazlewood for back-to-back matches, opening the door for Neser to potentially make his Test return at The Oval.
If Hazlewood was sidelined for the fifth Test, Neser would be battling Boland for the vacant spot in Australia’s starting XI. The Victorian quick struggled against England this winter, taking two wickets at 115.50, the worst bowling average among seam bowlers in an Ashes series since 1993 (minimum 250 deliveries).
“Boland’s been found out a little bit in those conditions,” former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin explained on Fox Sports’ The Back Page.
“England have gone after him.”
However, Boland could consider himself unlucky, having induced a higher false shot rate (36 per cent) than any other bowler in the Ashes series to date, according to Opta.
Neser, who has taken seven wickets at 16.71 in his two Test appearances, was Australia’s perennial 12th man for several years until Boland spectacularly leapfrogged him in the pecking order during the 2021/22 Ashes – but recent form has muddied the pace bowling hierarchy.
If selected, Neser’s batting would considerably strengthen Australia’s lower order, which has been outclassed by England throughout the Ashes – the visitors lost 6-23 during a horror collapse in the first innings at Headingley, while England bowlers Chris Woakes and Mark Wood made valuable contributions with the bat.
The Australians could also consider dropping spinner Todd Murphy for the final two Ashes fixtures, but it has been over a decade since Australia played a Test match without a strike spinner.
“We like a spinner,” Australian coach Andrew McDonald explained to reporters this week.
“We like to have a balanced attack, and it gives you options, you can take pace out of the game, and you become one-dimensional – whether it be with the right-arm bowlers or just pace bowlers in general – without the ability to turn to a spinner.
“I think that leaves you a bit short at times.”
The fourth Ashes Test between England and Australia gets underway at Old Trafford on Wednesday.