Shocking! Australia squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka announced without captain

Australia's squad for the upcoming two-match ODI series against Sri Lanka has been announced. However, the squad was named without a captain. Steve Smith and Travis Head are the likeliest options to lead the team but Cricket Australia hasn't confirmed it yet.

The board was forced to make a few changes after unavailability of some players due to injury and retirement. As a result, the squad looks silghtly inexperienced in terms of bowling but has good firepower in the batting department.

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Australia's squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka announced

Australia's ODI squad vs Sri Lanka: Travis Head, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Hardie, Cooper Connolly, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Sean Abbott, Spencer Johnson, Ben Dwarshuis, Tanveer Sangha

The squad for the two ODIs against Sri Lanka with the captain yet to be confirmed 🇦🇺

Originally selected players who were withdrawn: Stoinis, Cummins, Hazlewood, Marsh pic.twitter.com/cEu2bfJpxd

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) February 9, 2025

The squad has been announced without any captain as Pat Cummins is unavailable. The head coach Andrew McDonald had confirmed that either Steve Smith or Travis Head will become the team's captain and he will continue in the role in the Champions Trophy as well.

The 16-member squad consists of a great amount of experienced and firepower in the batting department. However, the team will miss the services of experienced fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who were both ruled out due to the respective injuries.

Cummins and Hazlewood were earlier ruled out of the Champions Trophy. Cummins is suffering from an ankle injury while Hazlewood is yet to fully recover from the hip injury.

Apart from these two quicks, the squad also doesn't have Marcus Stoinis, who announced his ODI retirement in a shocking decision just days before the Champions Trophy. Stoinis was a part of the 15-member squad for the tournament.

Australia include new faces

Australia have included Sean Abbott, Spencer Johnson, and Ben Dwarshuis squad for the Sri Lanka ODIs in the absence of frontline quicks. Legspinner Tanveer Sangha and left-arm spinning allrounder Cooper Connolly has also found a place looking at the conditions of the subcontinent.

In the absence of Hazlewood and Cummins, Mitchell Starc will lead the attack. Surprisingly, Adam Zampa is not a part of this series as Australia looks for alternative options and will be aiming to test their bench strength.

Young batter Jake Fraser-McGurk is also included in the squad. He is in line to replace Mitchell Marsh in the Champions Trophy squad, who was also ruled out due to injury. Connolly can be Stoinis' replacement and can be useful in these conditions.

Strong batting order

The batting looks solid with the presence of Travis Head and Matthew Short at the top. Marnus Labushchagne keeps his place in the Playing XI after questions over his Test form. Steve Smith has shown tremendous form in the red-ball format recently and is likely to bat at No. 3 in ODIs.

Australia have selected two wicketkeepers in the form of Josh Inglis and Alex Carey. Inglis has been their preferred wicketkeeper in white-ball cricket but Carey has shown excellent form in the Test series recently.