Australia Shortlist 18 Members For The West Indies And Bangladesh Tours; Big Names To Skip The Series

Cricket Australia has finalized an 18-member squad for the upcoming Bangladesh and West Indies tours. Australia’s forthcoming visit to the West Indies and Bangladesh will consist of ten T20Is and three ODIs, starting from the 9th of July, as they look to finetune their T20 World Cup plans for this year. But the 18-member squad does not contain the likes of Pat Cummins, David Warner, and Steve Smith; however, a lot of youngsters have got opportunities to stake their claim.

Steve Smith has been rested to recover from his elbow injury that flared during the Indian Premier League (IPL). On the other hand, the likes of David Warner, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Marcus Stoinis made themselves unavailable due to a host of personal reasons. Hence, men like Aaron Finch, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood, being senior players have additional responsibilities on them.

Selector Trevor Hohns underlined that they are disappointed not to have a full-strength squad for the tour; however, Cricket Australia respects their decision. But Hohns believes that it’s a massive opportunity for the rest of the players to push their cases for the T20 World Cup. He feels that everyone has a real chance to fix their spots for the mega T20 event set to take place in India or the UAE.

“We are naturally disappointed not to have all players available for the Australian team at this time however the NSP respects the decisions of those who have opted out of this tour. They also present opportunities for others and, in this case, the chance to push for selection in the Australian men’s T20 World Cup squad later this year and beyond. This is a great chance for these players to make a case for the World Cup and all are considered very real prospects of making that tournament by performing well across these tours,” Hohns said as quoted by Cricket Australia.

Australia’s 18-man squad to tour the West Indies and Bangladesh:

Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendroff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Marsh, Riley Meredith, Ben Mcdermott, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

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