Cricket - The Ashes - Australia v England - Third Test - Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia - December 21, 2025 Australia's Pat Cummins catches the ball of England's Jamie Smith REUTERS/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
SYDNEY, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Spinner Todd Murphy has been called into the Australia squad in place of the injured Nathan Lyon for this week's fourth Ashes test, while captain Pat Cummins will skip the rest of the series as his back issue is managed.
Lyon was ruled out for the rest of the series by a hamstring injury sustained as Australia beat England by 82 runs in the third test in Adelaide on Sunday to clinch the series and retain the Ashes.
Steve Smith was also named in the squad despite missing the third test after suffering a bout of vertigo and will captain the side in the absence of Cummins, as he did for the first two tests of the series.
Cummins, who took six for 117 in Adelaide, is still on the road to recovery after suffering a back injury and is likely to be replaced in the bowling attack by Brendan Doggett or Michael Neser, who have already played in the series.
"(Pat) won't play any part in the rest of the series," coach Andrew McDonald told reporters at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday.
"We were taking on some risk (with him) and we've now won the series, and that was the goal. So to position him for further risk and jeopardise him long term is not something that we want to do. And Pat's really comfortable with that."
Jhye Richardson, who trained with the team in Adelaide, has also been called into the squad as a further pace option after fine domestic form on his return from shoulder surgery.
Murphy, 25, has played seven tests since his debut in India in 2023 and has long been considered the heir apparent to Lyon.
All-rounder Beau Webster, who has yet to see any action in the series, also offers part-time off-spin and is another option to replace Lyon at the MCG from Friday.
"Todd's been an important part of a key overseas series. He played in the last Ashes back in 2023 and we feel as though Todd's back to his best," McDonald said.
"We've got some decisions to make. Do we play a spinner? Don't we play spinner? We'll work through that."
McDonald said 38-year-old Lyon, who had surgery on his injury earlier on Tuesday, was "devastated" but had already turned his thoughts to being back in the side for the tour of India in early 2027.
"It's gonna be a hard period for him to get back to where he was but he still wants to do it, and that's the main thing," the coach said.
Top-order batsman Usman Khawaja retains his place in the squad despite being dropped from the team for the Adelaide test, only to be recalled at the last minute when Smith was ruled out.
Australiasquad: Steve Smith (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Ed Osmond and Shri Navaratnam)
