Khawaja left out of Adelaide, Cummins and Lyon return

Usman Khawaja has been left out of the third Test in Adelaide, raising the prospect of him having played his final match for Australia, with Australia's selectors backing the positive approach brought by the Jake Weatherald-Travis Head pairing.

As expected, captain Pat Cummins and offspinner Nathan Lyon return to the side at the expense of Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett.

Khawaja missed the second Test in Brisbane having not recovered from the back spasms he picked up in Perth that prevented him from opening in either innings.

Earlier this week Khawaja said he was 100% fit and eager to retain his spot. The prospect of him taking a middle-order role had been raised but the selectors have opted to retain Josh Inglis with Weatherald and Head continuing their opening partnership.

They came together in the second innings in Perth to add 75 in the run chase before combining for 77 in the first innings at the Gabba with selectors seeing the value in what it has done to the England attack.

"I think the big thing that's shifted on us is probably Trav opening after that first Test and how good that has looked with the Weathers, so we're pretty happy with that batting line-up," Cummins said ahead of his first Test of the series after a back injury. "It didn't feel like it needed to change in the middle order.

"So far it's looked like they [Head and Weatherald] have been able to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Whatever has been thrown at them, they've had an answer to. It's really set up the platform for our innings.

"I think you've seen people like Marnus [Labuschagne] and Steve [Smith] walk in after that as well and really get on the back of that and start their innings well. I don't know if it's scrambled the opposition, but it's certainly kind of got that momentum, kept that scoreboard ticking over and started our innings brilliantly."

Khawaja turns 39 during the Adelaide Test and has averaged 31.84 since the 2023 Ashes with one century in 45 innings.

Asked whether there was a road back, Cummins said: "Yeah, potentially. I think the selectors have been quite adamant [that] we're picking a side each week, it doesn't necessarily mean it's got to be exactly the same team as the previous week. We do that with the bowlers this week.

"Obviously, Nathan Lyon's coming back in. One of Uzzie's great strengths he's scored runs at the top, he's scored runs in the middle. If we didn't think he'd be good enough to come straight in, then he wouldn't be here in the squad. So, absolutely, I can see a path back at some point, if needed."

Cummins, meanwhile, lauded the fact Australia were 2-0 up despite being stretched by injury, including himself yet to feature and Josh Hazlewood being ruled out of the series.

"Incredible, I think it shows just great depth in the Aussie cricket system at the moment with fast bowlers," he said. "When I said it's almost worked out perfectly...we're halfway through a series, I've come back on line, you've got Ness and Doggy who are resting from this week, but they've obviously got themselves into the series and are available for the last two games.

"You've seen Jhye Richardson out the back bowling. So it feels like everything's come together and we're not just hanging on to the end of a series like sometimes you are. We're actually peaking and hopefully there are heaps of resources available.

"But the guys who have stepped in have been fantastic and I think it's a huge credit to those guys who have stepped in but also the coaches and Steve managing those guys throughout the day."

Steven Smith missed training on Monday due to illness but was first in the nets on Tuesday.

1 Jake Weatherald, 2 Travis Head, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Josh Inglis, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Scott Boland