Australia Recall James Faulkner, Nathan Coulter-Nile For India ODIs

Australia have recalled allrounder James Faulkner and fast-bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile to the One-Day International squad for the series against India as Cricket Australia, on Friday (August 18), announced the squads for the limited-overs series in the subcontinent in September and October. According to Cricket Australia, the reigning ODI world champions are scheduled to play five ODIs and three T20Is in India between September 17 and October 13.

After spending the second half of 2016 and first few months of this year on the sidelines due to injury, Coulter-Nile made an impressive return to action, bagging an impressive 15 wickets in just 8 games for Kolkata Knight Riders.

“Nathan brings raw pace to the side with good variation,” selector Trevor Hohns said of Coulter-Nile’s selection. “It is great to see him back from injury and we are hopeful he will have a big impact in this series.

Australia will hope that Coulter-Nile replicates his IPL heroics as they will be without their pace spearhead Mitchell Starc who is recovering from an injury to his right foot.

On the other hand, Faulkner, who was one of Australia’s best performers when the team visited India in 2013, was a surprise omission from the Australia squad for the Champions Trophy. Hohns said Faulkner’s familiarity with the subcontinent conditions and his performance in Sri Lanka last year earner him the recall. The allrounder had managed just 30 runs but impressed with the ball, taking 10 wickets in 5 ODIs at an impressive average of 19.60.

“James Faulkner is a solid One-Day campaigner and is very familiar with sub-continent conditions, coming off a very good tour of Sri Lanka last year. We hope that he will take his chance in returning to the one-day side,” Hohns said.

In the T20 squad, allrounder Hilton Cartwright has been included. Cartwright, who made his Test debut for Australia earlier this year, is expected to make a big impression with his hard-hitting abilities in the shortest format of the game.

“Hilton is an aggressive striker of the ball and we think his game will be well suited to the transition to short-form cricket,” Hohns said.

Along with Cartwright, Jason Behrendorff,  Kane Richardson, senior allrounder Dan Christian and wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine have also been in the T20 squad. Meanwhile, Josh Hazlewood has not been included in the T20 squad while Steve Smith and David Warner have returned to the team after missing the series against Sri Lanka earlier this year due to the Test series in India.

Speaking about the selections, T20 selector Mark Waugh said: “Jason has been a stand out performer for the Scorchers for a number of seasons and deserves his chance at this level. Dan is a very experienced all-rounder who can be a very dangerous batsman. He had a solid IPL season this year and we believe his bowling will be well suited to the conditions we will face in India. Tim Paine has been called-up following his successful home T20 International and Big Bash campaigns.”

Meanwhile, the schedule and venues for the series are yet to be confirmed by the BCCI,

Australia ODI squad:

Steve Smith, David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa

Australia T20 squad:

Steve Smith (C), David Warner (VC), Jason Behrendorff, Dan Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa