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On Wednesday, Australia announced a 15-member squad for the first Ashes Test. It featured a grand total of one player under the age of 30; Cameron Green.Some of this is explained by the fact that Australia’s bowling unit has been together for over a decade. It may concern them though, that precious few of their younger crop have done enough to challenge for a Test spot. But who are the candidates? Sam Konstas (20) & Cooper Connolly (22)Two of the more obvious names. Konstas and Connolly have both played Test cricket in the past year, in itself no mean feat given the settled look of the side. Opening batter Konstas’ form has fallen off a cliff since his exhilarating Boxing Day debut in 2024, resulting in him losing his spot in the squad to Jake Weatherald.Connolly has played one Test so far, in Sri Lanka earlier this year, but he didn’t set the world alight. He has remained around the white-ball squads, playing eight ODIs and six T20Is. But unless his batting improves significantly, Australia may have little use for a spin-bowling all-rounder in Test cricket.Fergus O’Neill (24)This April, O’Neill impressed in England with a four-match County Championship spell for Notts that yielded 21 wickets. At 6’4”, strong and bustling, with the ability to hit the deck hard, he did stand a chance of an Ashes call-up this year. But Australia, as they have done in the recent past, came down on the side of experience in the form of Brendan Doggett – seven years O’Neill’s senior – as an option to replace injured skipper Pat Cummins for the first Test.Still only 24, O’Neill’s entire body of first-class work (146 wickets at 20.62) is highly promising. He can bat a bit as well; an average of just under 23 is not to be scoffed at. It may take two years or more until a spot opens up for him in the Test team, but he could well wedge himself in the furniture once he gets his chance.Campbell Kellaway (23)Kellaway only recently turned 23, and is perhaps the most promising young top-order batter in Australia on the evidence of performances at senior level. Starting out as a No.3, he moved up a spot in November 2024 when Matt Short’s return from international cricket to Victoria created a logjam in the order.The left-hander struck 122 in his second innings at the top, and has not looked back. Kellaway finished as Victoria’s top run-scorer in the 2024-25 Sheffield Shield season with 738 runs.He had a lean tour of India with Australia A in September, but back at home is amongst the runs again, with 243 in three Shield matches so far. A career first-class average of 33 is not all that impressive; what catches the eye more is a quirky split in his record. Kellaway averages just under 22 in his team’s first innings of a match, and 44 in the second.Oliver Peake (19)Still only 19, left-handed middle-order batter Ollie Peake was part of Australia’s victorious U19 side at last year’s World Cup, contributing with 49 and 46 not out in the semi-final and final respectively.Perhaps a sign of how highly he is rated, he was invited to travel with Australia’s Test squad to Sri Lanka this January, in order to gain experience of subcontinent conditions. Peake was picked for the Australia A team to play Sri Lanka at home after just one first-class match; he scored 52 in his first innings for Victoria.Testimonials have poured in for Peake as well. Brad Haddin praised his “cricket smarts” and ability to “play the angles”, on BBL debut and Nathan McSweeney said he was “a very mature 18-year-old” earlier this year.After Peake made an unbeaten 70 to take Victoria over the line in a run-chase against South Australia last month, Chris Rogers called his knock “as good an innings as I’ve seen in a long time, let alone from an 18-year-old kid.”Jack Edwards (25)In October 2018, Jack Edwards became the One-Day Cup’s youngest centurion aged 18, opening the batting for New South Wales against Queensland. On either side of that knock were scores of 68 and 84, coming in the same year that he made 216 runs and took five wickets in five games at the U19 World Cup.Since then, Edwards’ career has gone through a unique progression. He batted at No.5 and No.6 on first-class debut later that month, and has since gradually moved down the order in both red-ball and white-ball cricket.Across the last two completed Sheffield Shield seasons, Edwards has taken 51 wickets at 24.3 with his seam bowling, while contributing 808 runs at 33.6 mainly from No.7 and No.8.From two games this season, he has 94 runs at 47 and six wickets at 23.3, often taking the new ball. In October, he also bludgeoned 89 off 75 in a List A game for Australia A against India A, perhaps signalling that he could be an all-format, all-round prospect.Will Salzmann (21)If Edwards went down the order, 21-year-old Will Salzmann has gone the other way. At the 2022 U19 World Cup, Salzmann was Australia’s highest wicket-taker, with 12 in six games. He was handed a List A debut for New South Wales later that year, and caught the eye when he sent a towering six crashing into the scoreboard at the St Kilda Cricket Ground.Salzmann batted at seven in that game, and on first-class debut last month against Western Australia. He top-scored for his side in each innings with 43 and 72, prompting Kerry O’Keeffe to say, “He batted like Steve Waugh, the way he got his head and shoulder into line for every delivery. He’s listed as a fast bowler who bats a bit, but I see the reverse. I think he could be a middle-order player who bowls second change.”Two games later, Salzmann was promoted to open the innings alongside Sam Konstas, and made 65 and 31 not out. He has bowled just one over in three first-class games so far, but has 16 List A wickets at 17.56.It’s a strange mishmash of roles and returns for Salzmann so far, but equally, it remains exciting to see which way he goes.Mahli Beardman (19), Callum Vidler (20) & Tom Straker (20)Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood. Vidler, Straker, Beardman.The names roll off the tongue, but the players aren’t quite there yet. There is every chance that the three of them develop together, though. At the 2024 U19 World Cup, the pace-bowling trio took 37 wickets between them, at a staggering average of 11.14, and economy rate of 3.33.The older two of the three, Vidler and Straker, both represent Queensland. Both 20 years old, they have played three and seven first-class matches so far, returning 12 and 15 wickets respectively. Vidler’s haul also includes 4-64 and 1-60 in the 2024-25 Sheffield Shield final in March.West Australia’s Beardman is the closest to the national team at the moment, though. He is yet to play first-class cricket, but has 12 List A scalps at 17.75. Mentored by Dennis Lillee and able to hit speeds in excess of 140 kmph, Beardman trained with the Test team in 2022, was a standby for the ODI team on their tour of England in 2024, and received a call-up to the main T20I squad for the last three matches of the ongoing series against India.Harjas Singh (20)He is yet to play any senior professional cricket, but 20-year-old Harjas Singh merits a mention simply for the outrageous knock he played in Sydney grade cricket last month; hitting 35 sixes en route to scoring 314 in a 50-over game. Last year, Harjas also shook off poor form to top-score with 55 in the U19 World Cup final. The triple ton earned him a call-up to New South Wales’ second XI team, and on his current trajectory, a promotion to the main team may not be far away.Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. 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