New Delhi (Nilesh Tiwari): On Thursday, February 6, 2025, Australia handed further blows as pacer Josh Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins were ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy due to injuries.
Hazlewood is still recovering from a calf issue, and Cummins has still to recover from the ankle niggle that dogged him near the end of the most recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against India.
Australia must make at least four changes to the original 15-man roster they announced on January 13 before they can finalize their Champions Trophy lineup on February 12.
In addition to Cummins and Hazlewood, they are also without Marcus Stoinis, who announced on Thursday that he would be retiring from ODI cricket after being chosen in the original 15 and Mitchell Marsh, who is battling a back injury and was ruled out of the tournament on January 31.
Australia will play Sri Lanka in the first of two One-Day Internationals (ODIs) at Colombo on February 12. In addition to legspinner Tanveer Sangha, spin-bowling all-rounder Cooper Connolly, and batter Jake Fraser-McGurk, they have added three quicks for those two games: Sean Abbott, Spencer Johnson, and Ben Dwarshuis.
Two of the three quick bowlers might be selected for the Champions Trophy team, and Fraser-McGurk seems to be Marsh’s like-for-like replacement because he hasn’t bowled much in ODI cricket lately and was locked in to bat at number three.
“While disappointing, it does present a great opportunity for other players to perform for Australia in a world event,” Bailey said.
Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two that we’ve been having conversations with while we’ve been building out that Champions Trophy team along with Pat back home,” McDonald said.
