Murphy’s ‘blooding’ may be delayed as Agar in frame for home ‘first’

ASHTON Agar is firmly in the frame to play his first Test on home soil.

Selectors met on Thursday night and are set to choose between left-armer Agar and Victorian rookie Todd Murphy as their SCG spin addition to be announced on Friday.

Pace bowler Michael Neser and all-rounder Aaron Hardie are also in contention for callups as replacements for the injured Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green.

Off-spinner Murphy has plenty of fans but working against the 22-year-old’s chances may be the question of whether it’s logical to pick him in the same XI as Nathan Lyon, particularly when there’s another part-time offie in Travis Head in the team.

Not only does Agar spin it the other way as a left-arm orthodox, but he is also capable of batting at No.7, which could be an important factor with all-rounder Green out of action.

It’s not guaranteed that Australia will play a second spinner in any case.

But SCG curator Adam Lewis has encouraged skipper Pat Cummins that the deck he has prepared for next week would warrant picking a No.1 slow bowler for the first time since Steve O’Keefe partnered Lyon in Sydney against Pakistan in 2017.

Agar has only played four

Tests since his extraordinary debut as an 19-year-old at Trent Bridge on the 2013 Ashes tour made him an instant household name as the country stayed up to watch his remarkable 98.

Those same batting skills he showed as a No.11 could again come to the fore nearly 10 years later if selectors are thinking about promoting wicketkeeper Alex Carey to

No.6 and replacing Green with a bowling all-rounder, rather than a like-for-like batting allrounder such as Hardie.

In that scenario, Agar or Neser both have first-class records that prove they’re capable of batting at No.7 in Test cricket. However, there would be a temptation to use this as an opportunity to blood Murphy, who Lyon has anointed as the real deal.