Australia Recall Chris Lynn for England ODIs; Glenn Maxwell Dropped

Australia has recalled Chris Lynn to the One-Day International side for the upcoming series against England while out-of-favour Glenn Maxwell has been dropped.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine, who recently returned to the Test side after a seven-year gap, has also been recalled while uncapped pace bowling duo Jhye Richardson and Andrew Tye have got included in the 14-man squad.

Lynn, who played his only ODI so far in January last year, recently returned to action in the ongoing Big Bash League after fully recovering from his shoulder injury following surgery. He showed his form on Tuesday (January 2) when he scored 63 not out off 46 balls to power Brisbane Heat to an easy win over Melbourne Stars.

Prior to the Big Bash League, Lynn’s last competitive came in May last year when he played in the warm-up game against Pakistan before the Champions Trophy.

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On the other hand, Richardson has been in fine form for Western Australia and Perth Scorchers this summer. He was the equal leading wicket-taker with 13 scalps in seven matches in Western Australia’s successful One-Day Cup campaign. Tye is also in red-hot form, having taken 13 wickets in four matches in the ongoing Big Bash League including a hat-trick against the Sydney Sixers.

However, the biggest surprise in the squad is the omission of Maxwell. The hard-hitting batsman, who also got ignored for the Ashes, had a disastrous outing in India but had looked in good form in domestic cricket after that. He had entered the Big Bash League as Sheffield Shield’s highest run-scorer so far, scoring 590 runs at 73.35 including a stunning 278 against New South Wales Blues.

But national selector Trevor Hohns made it clear that 29-year old got dropped because of his persistent poor form in the national jersey.

“No-one is in any doubt about Glenn’s ability or his potential to produce match-winning contributions with the bat,” Hohns said in a statement. “What we have wanted from him is more consistency but in his past 20 matches in this format, he has averaged 22, and we need more than that from a player in the side’s batting engine room.

Hohns further insisted that Maxwell features prominently in the selectors’ plan but for the time being the selectors wanted to try out Lynn once again.

“Glenn is still absolutely in our thoughts, but for this series, we had decided to look again at Chris Lynn, who is now back playing once more after the shoulder injury that hampered him when we picked him against Pakistan in this format 12 months ago.

“He has been one of the most feared players at domestic level in limited-overs cricket in the past couple of years, and we want to see if he can convert that domestic form to the international stage,” he said.

Speaking on Paine’s recall, Hohns said:

“Tim forced his way into the Twenty20 International squad last summer, and after coming back into the Test squad at the beginning of the Ashes series, he has made a terrific contribution with bat and gloves.”

Paine‘s last ODI appearance came way back in 2011, but he has now become Australia’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman in all the three formats. The 33-year old has already made a successful return to the Test and T20I side, thus forcing the selectors to drop Matthew Wade.

“He deserves his opportunity in this form of the game, and the challenge for Matthew (Wade) is to return to the type of form that saw him score a one-day international hundred against Pakistan last summer,” Hohns said.

Hohns went on to say that the selectors picked the squad with the 2019 World Cup in mind, as Australia aims to defend the title they won at home in 2015.

“With our defence of the ICC Cricket World Cup just 17 months away, we are seeking to get a squad in place that can form the basis of the line-up for that campaign and at the same time regain ground in the ODI Rankings, given we have slipped from the number one position over the past 12 months,” he said.

“There will still be further opportunities for players to force their way into the reckoning for the squad to go to England and Wales in 2019 but the sooner we can settle on our best combination and get them playing together and in form on a regular basis then the better our chances will be of retaining the trophy we won at home in 2015,” he added.

Australia squad:

Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa

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