Reshuffled Australia weigh Champions Trophy candidates against Sri Lanka

Melbourne — After sweeping the Test series in Sri Lanka, an injury-depleted Australia will look to carry the momentum into ODI matches against the South Asians and build confidence for the Champions Trophy.

Selectors will confirm Australia’s final Champions Trophy squad on Wednesday as a bevy of fringe players look to impress in the first of two ODIs against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

With the Sri Lanka tour coming after a long, attritional home summer, Australia’s Champions Trophy roster will have a different look to the peerless squad that took a record-extending sixth World Cup title at the 2023 tournament in India.

Regular captain Pat Cummins, fellow quick Josh Hazlewood and all-rounder Mitch Marsh have been ruled out with injuries, while Marcus Stoinis was a late withdrawal last week after his surprise retirement from ODIs.

Selectors responded by calling up a small army of reserves for the Sri Lanka series, adding fast bowlers Sean Abbott, Spencer Johnson and Ben Dwarshuis along with leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha, spin-bowling all-rounder Cooper Connolly and batter Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Selectors have yet to decide on Cummins’s replacement as captain, though coach Andrew McDonald confirmed it will be either Steve Smith, who led the Test side in Cummins’s absence, or Travis Head.

Other selections remain uncertain even if fresh faces in the bowling are guaranteed.

The international ambitions of Australia’s reserve quicks have long been thwarted by the durability and consistency of the front-line trio of Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc.

However, at least two of Abbott, Johnson and Dwarshuis are expected to be included in the Champions Trophy, joining pacers Mitchell Starc and Nathan Ellis for the tournament co-hosted by Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

With Starc almost certain to be rested for Wednesday’s ODI due to the quick turnaround from the second Test, fellow left-armers Johnson and Dwarshuis may hope for a last chance to impress selectors in his place.

The hard-hitting Fraser-McGurk is in line to replace Marsh at No 3 in the batting order, while Connolly may be retained in the Champions Trophy squad as a replacement for Stoinis even if he lacks the all-rounder’s seam bowling.

Selectors want all of Australia’s Test players included in the ODI squad to play at least one of the Colombo matches to get into the rhythm of the shorter format, even if the venue’s spin-friendly conditions may be quite different to those in Pakistan.

Australia open their Champions Trophy campaign against England in Lahore on February 22, with their other group matches against SA and Afghanistan, also in Pakistan.

McDonald said it would be a fine balance tuning up the squad for the February 19-March 9 tournament as the selectors look to pick a team that can continue to build momentum in Sri Lanka.

“You want to play to win, there’s no doubt about that because winning form always helps the confidence of a group,” he told Cricket Australia’s website.

“The consideration is the conditions [in Colombo] are potentially somewhat different to what we get in Pakistan.

“Last time we came here [in 2022] it spun square in the one-day series, so hopefully they’re flatter surfaces for us to prepare, but who knows.”
Reuters