 "Pat Cummins will be hoping to add another ICC title to his collection as Australia captain after the World Test Championship and the World Cup. Reuters")
Matt Short, Aaron Hardie are set for their maiden appearance in an ICC event while Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been included after being ruled out of the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka as Australia became the latest team to unveil their squad for the Champions Trophy. Short, Hardie and Nathan Ellis are the additions to the Cummins-led team that won the 2023 World Cup in India.
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Cummins, who is currently on paternity leave for the birth of his second child, is set to continue leading the side and will be hoping to collect another ICC title as captain after the World Test Championship and the World Cup – both of which were won in 2023.
Opener Jake Fraser-McGurk is the notable omission from the squad which is heavy with all-rounders. Australia are two-time winners of the Champions Trophy which was last staged in 2017 and brings together the top eight ODI teams in the world.
The call-up of Short, Hardie and Ellis is made possible by the retirement of David Warner, the unavailability of Cameron Green who is recovering from a back injury and the absence of Sean Abbott.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsEllis earned his call-up after leading the Hobart Hurricanes into the finals of the Big Bash League. Short has played in nine of Australia’s last 11 one-day internationals and returned from a broken toe to score a century for the Adelaide Strikers in the BBL on Saturday.
He and Fraser-McGurk were traveling reserves for the Australia squad at last year’s T20 World Cup.
Head of selectors George Bailey, meanwhile, has revealed pacer-captain Cummins carried an ankle injury through the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against India. While squads have to be named five weeks before the tournament begins on 19 February, changes can be made if required.
Cummins will sit out Australia’s test tour of Sri Lanka which begins later this month as will Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh. Australia will play a lone one-dayer at the end of that tour which will be its only Champions Trophy warm-up.
Short supplements his batting with off-spin while Hardie bowls pace. Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis also provide all-round options.
“This is a balanced and experienced squad with the core having been involved in the previous one-day World Cup, the West Indies series, last year’s successful tour of the UK and the more recent Pakistan home series,” Bailey said. “It offers a variety of options for touring management depending on opposition and the conditions that may present in Pakistan.”
Australia is drawn alongside England, South Africa and Afghanistan in Group B at the Champions Trophy.
Australia squad for the ICC Champions Trophy: Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.
With AP inputs