This Week in Cricket #209: When is the right time to rebuild? The Ashes in India?

In this episode of the show, Baldy and Stu make the most of a quiet week in the southern hemisphere to debate the best approach to test cricket succession planning, with Australia's crop of outstanding fast bowlers front of mind. There's also talk of an Ashes test in India, plus plenty of other notes on the Aussie squad to face Bangladesh.

We start the show with the news that Australia has named a largely predictable test squad to take on Bangladesh in a few weeks' time. Players like Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green have retained their spots despite recent scrutiny, with it looking likely that Green will have the first chance to lock down the middle-order vacancy left by Usman Khawaja's retirement and Travis Head's move to the top of the order.

The conversation quickly turns to whether these games in Darwin and Mackay were a good opportunity to inject some younger legs into the Australian fast bowling attack, with Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Boland all likely to be closer to the end of their careers than the beginning. When's the right time to 'rebuild'? Will Australia be ready when the time comes? And how have other teams handled similar situations?

To round out the show, we chat about Todd Greenberg's comments on being 'open' to playing an Ashes test in India one day - I'm sure most long-time listeners can imagine Baldy's response!.

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Thanks for listening.

0:00 Intro

0:50 Australia's test squad to face Bangladesh

3:55 Should Australia be thinking about the future?

9:50 Will Starc, Cummins & Hazlewood retire at the same time?

14:40 Is white-ball cricket the breeding ground for tests?

22:55 Australia's batters get another chance

29:55 Jake Weatherald's prospects

36:25 An Ashes test in India? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices