Ashton Agar

Agar had little bowling to do early on, as the Australian pace attack dismissed England shortly before stumps on the opening day. His moment came with the bat. Australia had slumped to 117/9 when he walked out to partner Phil Hughes, and the pair put on 163 for the final wicket, turning the innings around and giving their side a useful first-innings advantage. Agar was eventually caught in the deep for 98. In the second innings he claimed two wickets but contributed little with the bat, and Australia were beaten by 14 runs in a tense finish.

The early promise faded quickly. After one further Test he lost his place. At domestic level he turns out for Western Australia, where he has batted in the middle order despite beginning his career primarily as a bowler, and in the Big Bash League he plays for the Perth Scorchers. Steady progress with the ball earned him a national recall in 2017 for the tour of India, though he was not selected for a Test there. He returned to Test cricket in the series against Bangladesh, four years after being left out.

In Bangladesh he backed up Nathan Lyon, who dominated with the ball, and showed more craft than in his debut days. Where he had once fired the ball in flat, he had learned to toss it up, make it dip on batters and vary his angle by using the width of the crease.

His white-ball career has been similarly stop-start. He made his ODI debut in 2015 and his T20I debut in 2016. In 2020 he took a T20I hat-trick against South Africa, becoming just the second Australian to do so. Although he missed selection for the 2019 Cricket World Cup, he was included in Australia's squads for the T20 World Cups of 2021 and 2022.