Cicket Australia have named their quarantining Indian Premier League players in the white-ball squad for the tour of the Caribbean.
Australia’s quarantining Indian Premier League players will be made available for the white ball tour of the Caribbean, with nine of the stars named in a preliminary squad.
Just hours after Australia’s 38-strong contingent jumped off a flight and into hotels for the next fortnight, selectors revealed their plans for the path to the Twenty20 World Cup.
Included in the 23-man preliminary squad – which will be cut down before departure – are the likes of Steve Smith, Pat Cummins and David Warner, who all returned home Monday.
There had been fears of bubble fatigue in the international set up, but the effort to get players home as soon as possible has no doubt helped the situation.
The group will likely have around three weeks in their own beds before leaving for the West Indies, with their stint in quarantine set to finish at the end of the month.
Australia will take just the one group to the Caribbean, covering off on both the five-game T20 series in mid-July and three ODIs that follow.
“Having players of that calibre back in the squad is critical to the build-up to the T20 World Cup and refining the balance of the team over the coming months,” selector Trevor Hohns said.
Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques and Alex Carey are also back, after missing the T20 tour of New Zealand due to the abandoned Test series in South Africa.
But Marnus Labuschagne won’t join them.
In a bitter blow to the 26-year-old’s faint World Cup hopes, he will remain in England with County club Glamorgan with COVID-19 presenting too much of a logistical hurdle.
Labuschagne is yet to debut for Australia in the format, but has made clear he had a desire to play in the T20 World Cup after an impressive Big Bash with Brisbane.
“We worked through numerous options in conversations with Marnus to find a workable solution but ultimately came to the conclusion it was more practical for him to remain in the UK,” Hohns said.
“Had we not been in the middle of a global pandemic Marnus would be on this tour as a well-established member and important part of the one-day side.
“Marnus has the opportunity to continue in County Cricket and T20 games with Glamorgan as we head into the World Cup and home summer.”
Aaron, Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Tanveer Sangha, D’Arcy Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
Ethan
Roar Rookie
Why no tests? Who cares about the hit n giggle world cup.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Can't be perjury. These aren't legal proceedings. Just internal investigations between employers and employees. Lying to the CA investigator is wrong, and if found out they could use that as grounds for cancelling contracts and things. But it's not perjury. That's only in actual legal proceedings, like lying while giving testimony in court, or in a sworn statutary declaration or the like.
Tom
“I wonder if they considered Sam Heazlett or Daniel Hughes as Labuschagne replacements. Both have 50+ averages in domestic One Day cricket (admittedly neither has played a heap of games)” And it will unfortunately stay that way due to CA’s treatment of the One Day Cup, 5 or 6 One Day matches a season for most domestic players is a joke. Unless we seriously start to ramping up the ‘A’ program like India do and England do with their Lions side these guys will continue to miss out on the ODI side and continue to play hardly any One Day matches. Warner and Finch won’t be around much longer so something needs to change fast. It’s become pretty obvious the last number of years that selectors couldn’t care less about performances in the One Day Cup and will just pick off of BBL form or just give chances to guys that have already established themselves in the test side. CA just put the bare minimum in to the OD Cup to keep the ACA happy.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
He was actually. By both nicknames.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Younger man crush?
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Clive Lloyd was known as super cat not big cat.
JGK
Roar Guru
It’s been reported in WA that Cam Green asked not to be selected in the extended squad as he wanted to stay in the WA squad for pre-season training to be ready for the Shield and then the Tests, which is an obvious indication of his current priorities re national representation. Cam Green is officially my new man crush.
Clear as mud
Guest
Even if people are shown to have perjured themselves? I don’t think and hope they haven’t. But...
Patrick
Roar Pro
Its a pity that, with Labuschagne unavailable, both Peter Handscomb and Travis Head were presumably ruled out for the same reason. Handscomb would have been an ideal replacement at number 4, as an accomplished middle overs batsman and excellent player of spin. With the next World Cup in India, I would love to see him get another opportunity in ODIs. Head, meanwhile is the ideal backup batsman in the ODI format, with the ability to bat anywhere from 1-7 and contribute with the ball- he can cover any injury in the top 7 except the wicketkeeper. He also has a strong T20 record, so could contribute in both formats. I wonder if they considered Sam Heazlett or Daniel Hughes as Labuschagne replacements. Both have 50+ averages in domestic One Day cricket (admittedly neither has played a heap of games), and whilst both typically open, they could easily bat at number 3, pushing Smith to 4. Perhaps their T20 records count against them in a squad that is prioritising the shortest format with an upcoming World Cup- even then, Hughes has been pretty good for the Sixers in recent years. The glaring omission from a T20 perspective is, as always, Dan Christian. For a team that struggles for finishers, its staggering that Australia continue to ignore him. Maybe he also wasn't considered for logistical reasons like Labuschagne, given that he will probably play T20 Blast- my gut feel is he would have been left out regardless.
Tom
Agreed, there is a serious lack of middle order batsman and even more than usual with Labs unavailable. Inglis showed he is more than capable to scoring runs in the middle order during the BBL and the One Day Cup. How many more times do we need to see the likes of Wade, Stoinis and Short fail in the middle order to realise that shoehorning opening batsman in to the middle order isn’t the answer? Does my head in.
Tom
Mitch Marsh actually makes runs domestically to earn his spot. Turner is terrible. Barely state quality at the moment.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Nothing is going to happen. Even if other stuff came up, they aren't, nor should they, decide to start applying other sanctions at this point.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
He basically played one phenomenal ODI innings and that's it. Really doesn't have much else outside that. In 7 T20 international innings he has a high score of 22 and a strike rate of 100. Obviously he's only had limited chances, but so far he hasn't been able to show anything beyond that one innings to suggest it wasn't just a rare fluke rather than a show of quality. The fact he doesn't bowl anymore also works against him. More often than not that lower-middle order power hitter role is held by someone who can also contribute with the ball. When he was younger he was considered very much an allrounder, but, largely through injuries I believe, basically stopped bowling. Both Marsh and Stoinis can contribute with the ball as well, which helps with team balance. Turner has to be significantly better than them with the bat to get the chance, because they lose a bowling option if he replaces one of them. Mind you, at the same time I don't actually believe they really need 8 bowling options in a team. Definitely good to have a genuine 6th option, but if you have 3 allrounders in the team I don't see that you need to also have 5 specialist bowlers.
Paul
Roar Guru
What's with D'arcy Short being included? He's done little or nothing in any format for the past 12 months to justify a callup. I'd have had Josh Inglis in his place for sure.
Clear as mud
Guest
Anyone in Sa in 2018 should be a provisional selection at this stage
Targa
Roar Rookie
NZ hasn't been there for a test tour since 2014. I don't know when the next one will be.
Soyaib Zihad
Roar Rookie
Tom, his last bbl performance was not bad. The last time he played for Australia, (against Sl and Pak series) he was good enough, it was a long time ago though. But then after being overlooked(I don't know why) for next some series, I think he lost his confidence. Look, how many chances did M Marsh and Stoinis got? Plenty, right? Still they can't perform consistently. That's why I think, it's time to move on and play someone like Turner who has well reputation to turn a match in favour.
Tom
Turner has been absolutely woeful in all forms of cricket the last few years.
bowledover
Roar Rookie
Mmm. shame... but then again, only a shame if he had a chance of playing. I dont know why theyd persist with Stoinis or Wade - must be other things happening driving that.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Actually, the ABC's Corbin Middlemass and Brett Sprigg started out at SportFM. As did Drew Jones (now Fox Sports) and Ben Cameron (now 6PR). They all "progressed" from the station in the last 5-10 years, which is pretty impressive for such a small community-based station.