Australia Test captain Pat Cummins have been left out of the T20I as well as the ODI squad for the upcoming tours of England and Scotland in September.
The ODI World Champions have announced two separate squads under the white-ball captain Mitchell Marsh for the tour, featuring six T20I and five ODI matches.
The T20I squad features some fresh faces, reflecting the team’s transition following the retirement of their batting mainstay David Warner. The left-handed batter played his last match during the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024.
22-year-old opening batter Jake Fraser-McGurk has been selected in T20I and ODI squads to take the top-order slot, which Warner previously held. He has played two ODIs so far during the home series against West Indies earlier this year.
Uncapped all-rounder Cooper Connolly also earned his maiden call-up for the T20I series. He has played in only 15 T20 matches so far, scoring 226 runs with a strike rate of 145.80 and has taken six wickets at an average of 15.16.
Justifying his selection despite playing few games at the domestic level, the national selector George Bailey said, “We haven’t had that many bolters for a little while.”
“He’s an exciting young talent. Hasn’t played a great many games yet, but we really like his versatility. His work through the middle order for the Scorchers has been really impressive.
“Handy left-arm spin as well which, as a secondary skill, is something we are really keen to keep exploring and see where that goes with his cricket.”
Moreover, Pat Cummins has been rested for the complete tour to manage his workload ahead of the home summer. Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell are set to play in only ODI series against England.
“He’s got a couple of things he wants to work on physically,” Bailey said. “He’s had a lot of cricket over the past period, and this is an opportunity to get on top of those and set him up for the next period of time; it’s more a management of that.”
Ashton Agar and Matthew Wade, who were part of Australia’s T20 World Cup squad, have been dropped. Josh Inglis will serve as the wicketkeeper in T20I series, while Alex Carey will continue to keep in ODIs.
Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Spencer Johnson, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis (wk), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa
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