Melbourne [Australia], January 13 (ANI): Pat Cummins headlines Australia’s preliminary 15-player squad for the ICC Males’s Champions Trophy 2025, marking his return as captain. Cummins will lead the crew in Pakistan however will miss the upcoming Check tour to Sri Lanka later this month because of an ankle damage, iCC Cricket reported.
The squad options maiden ICC occasion call-ups for Matt Brief and Aaron Hardie, together with the inclusion of pacer Nathan Ellis. These three change David Warner, who has retired, Cameron Inexperienced, sidelined because of again surgical procedure, and Sean Abbott.
Ellis earned his spot after a formidable Large Bash League season with the Hobart Hurricanes, who secured a spot within the event finals. Brief and Hardie, each versatile all-rounders, add depth to the squad. Ellis, a dependable pacer, can deal with each opening and death-overs duties in white-ball cricket.
Brief has been a constant presence in Australia’s ODI setup since Warner’s retirement in November 2023. Hardie, too, has contributed with 11 appearances within the 50-over format.
“It presents a wide range of choices for touring administration relying on the opposition and the circumstances that will current in Pakistan,” mentioned choice chair George Bailey, as quoted by ICC.
Australia, who final received the Champions Trophy in 2009, will kick off their marketing campaign in opposition to arch-rivals England in Lahore on February 22, adopted by a conflict with South Africa in Rawalpindi on February 25, and their closing group-stage match in opposition to Afghanistan in Lahore on February 28.
Pat Cummins’ availability was beneath scrutiny, along with his spouse Becky anticipating their second baby through the Sri Lanka Check tour in late January. Furthermore, it was revealed that Cummins managed an ankle problem throughout Australia’s triumphant Border-Gavaskar Trophy sequence earlier this 12 months.
Becoming a member of Cummins in his return is Josh Hazlewood, who was sidelined mid-series in opposition to India because of a calf damage. Like Cummins, Hazlewood is not going to journey to Sri Lanka.
“It is a balanced and skilled squad with the core having been concerned within the earlier one-day World Cup, the West Indies sequence, final 12 months’s profitable tour of the UK and the newer Pakistan residence sequence,” Bailey famous.
Australia will goal to finish their 15-year Champions Trophy drought, having beforehand claimed the title in 2006 and 2009.
Australia preliminary squad: Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Brief, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa. (ANI)
