Cricket Australia announces final squad for ODI World Cup
Cricket Australia (CA) has announced their 15-member squad for the eagerly anticipated ICC Cricket World Cup in India. The five-time champions will begin their campaign against hosts India on October 8 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
In the final roster, Australia made one change from the provisional squad, replacing injured Ashton Agar with Marnus Labuschagne. Agar will miss the entire tournament due to a calf injury. Meanwhile, Labuschagne has earned the call-up for his consistent performances in his last ODI series against South Africa and India.
The Kangaroos will continue to be captained by Pat Cummins during the ODI World Cup. The Aussies will go into their campaign with just one specialist spinner Adam Zampa. Meanwhile, star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell proved his worth in the final ODI against India in Rajkot. He produced a career-best figures of 4/40 from 10 overs.
Ashton Agar, though, played alongside Marnus Labuschagne with the bat in the first ODI in South Africa before suffering a calf injury that kept him out of the next two games and forced him to return home for the birth of his first child.
Australia will technically have a 14-man roster for the opening stages of the competition. Opener, Travis Head needs at least another four weeks to recover from his hand injury. Head’s glove was struck by Coetzee’s delivery in the fourth ODI vs South Africa, and subsequent scans revealed a fracture on his left hand.
Tanveer Sangha and Matt Short will stay in India with the team at least through the end of the warm-up games. The five-time champions have two warm-up games against the Netherlands and Pakistan on September 30 and October 3, respectively, to choose their starting lineup for their highly anticipated World Cup opener.
Final Australian squad:
Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
