Inglis is the spare batter (and reserve wicketkeeper) in the current squad and is viewed as a valuable utility player who can fill various roles. Has five Tests to his name and made a century on debut against Sri Lanka in Galle, but with a top score of 32 in six innings since. Not a realistic option to open so there would need to be a change to the middle order for him to find a role.

Renshaw is likely the next cab off the rank having trained with the Test squad prior to the Bangladesh series and has made a strong impression in the white-ball set up. Has played 14 Tests, the most recent in 2023, with a top score of 184 in his fourth outing before falling away. After a spell in the middle order for Queensland a few seasons ago he is now back at the top and averaged 49.90 with three hundreds in last season’s Sheffield Shield, which was a standout return.

A very experienced first-class cricketer at the age of 33, Patterson has fought through some tough times to even be in the conversation. Played two Tests against Sri Lanka in 2019, scoring a century in the second of them, and holds an average of 144.00 which he would do well to maintain if another chance did come. Averaged 36.41 for New South Wales in the Shield last season, with two centuries, and made a half-century for the CA XI against Bangladesh earlier this month so has played some recent cricket.

The 19-year-old is a very exciting prospect, and has already played four ODIs, but averages 26.00 from 13 first-class matches, albeit within that has been signs of his talent. A name mentioned by Ricky Ponting (which carries significant weight around Australian cricket), it is a matter of time before he plays Test cricket, but it would be a gamble for that to be now.

Connolly, the left-handed batter and left-arm spinner, is becoming an interesting story. He has still only played 13 first-class matches, and doesn’t have a century, with one of those games being his Test debut in early 2025 against Sri Lanka. After a lean run earlier this year, he surged back into white-ball form at the IPL and flayed a brilliant 149 in the ODI series against Bangladesh in June. Still feels some way from the Test side unless the selectors take a punt.

In a similar bracket to Peake among the next generation, although Kellaway is not quite as raw having racked up 44 first-class matches, which have brought three centuries. He is another earmarked for a Test future, and there are some (including Ponting) who feel that should have come by now in place of Weatherald. Stood up well against a rapid spell from Mitchell Starc last season and he made runs for the Prime Minister’s XI and Australia A against England Lions. Scored a duck for the CA XI against Bangladesh.

Among Australia’s merry-go-round of new openers the most memorable innings (Travis Head aside) has come from Konstas when he flayed Jasprit Bumrah on Boxing Day at the MCG in 2024. But he’s down the pecking order after a difficult tour of West Indies last season and a 2025-26 domestic summer where, after a century in the final round before the BBL, he couldn’t convert starts into something more substantial. Was caught down the leg side for 1 playing for the CA XI.

Elite sport is unforgiving, but it feels as though McSweeney has been a little hard done by. Tasked with opening against Bumrah when he wasn’t a specialist in the role, he was jettisoned after three matches (having played an important innings in Adelaide) when the selectors called for Konstas to take the game on. Unfortunately for McSweeney he only averaged 28.05 last season, which didn’t demand another look, but has three centuries at 49.08 for Northamptonshire in County Championship, albeit in Division Two.