Three veteran bowlers will return to the test cricket side for the upcoming Bangladesh tour of Australia’s top end.

Josh Hazlewood is coming off a quiet summer after he missed the 2025/26 Ashes series with a hamstring and Achilles injury.

Nathan Lyon is returning after a nasty hamstring tear suffered on the final day of the third test in Adelaide during the Ashes which saw him undergo surgery.

Scott Boland’s inclusion among Mitch Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood signals the selectors’ desire to pursue aggression through Australia’s fast bowling.

Former Australian test captain Kim Hughes joined Sports Breakfast this morning.

“It’s great to see Cummins and Hazlewood, and of course the GOAT, Nathan Lyon, back there,” he said.

“Boland has just been one of those incredible blokes that he, he doesn’t look much – he’s not bowling 150 kilometres an hour – but he just does the right thing and he never lets us down.

“I’d be tempted to reward Boland, leave him in the side and Hazlewood – he will be used, there’s no doubt about that – but I’d stick with Boland to start.”

Captain Pat Cummins only played in the deciding Adelaide test match over summer, sitting the rest of the series out with back stress.

His lack of bowling under the conditions of a test match will be in the spotlight in August.

“Lets face it, twenty-twenty cricket – it’s four overs… you don’t even get out of bed for that but you get paid millions, so he could play that until he’s 90. But test cricket – totally different.”

“You don’t get fit from bowling in the gym… you get fit by getting out there and playing shield cricket or domestic cricket.

“England showed that last year. The first day they had two blokes [bowling] nearly 150 kilometres an hour, and the next day, when Travis Head slaughtered them, they dropped 10-15 kilometres.”

Australia have the job of finding their new opening batsman after Usman Khawaja’s retirement at the conclusion of this year’s Ashes series.

Beau Webster proved himself in the fifth test – the only match he played last summer – scoring 71 not out with the bat and taking three wickets with ball-in-hand.

“Webster is [an opener], I was really impressed with him and he could catch. He could bowl steadily but I was very impressed with his batting at six or seven.”

“But batting at five, six or seven – even at four – is totally different to opening… the challenge is we don’t have any real specialist openers. Travis [Head] was incredible in his opening sort of display last year, but I’m not too sure he’s going to be a long-term opening batsman.

“It really is a specialist position… we need some real good, young, I think world-class openers to come forward and put their hand up.”

The Bangladesh tour could be a turning point in Cameron Green’s test cricket career – the all-rounder struggling to break into Australia’s bowling attack among a list of household names.

His lack of a consistent spot in the batting order has seen him struggle to find his feet in Australia’s test side since his debut.

Green averaged 24.42 runs and failed to score a half century during the Ashes.

“Cameron Green, he had a very, very average season last year… he’s not an opener.”

“Just say that Cameron Green, you’ve got two or three test matches, you’re batting at number five, if you have a bowl you’re going to bowl.”

The first of two test matches takes place on August 12 in Darwin with the second beginning on August 21 in Mackay.

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