Melbourne: Left-hand batter Travis Head has been included in Australia’s 14-member One-day International (ODI) squad in place of the now-retired Aaron Finch for the three-match series against England, scheduled to commence soon after the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup here.
While announcing the squad, chairman of selectors George Bailey said, “Our focus is to continue to build a squad with an eye to next year’s World Cup (in India) under Pat (Cummins) as the new ODI captain, so it’s an important series.
“Travis Head returns in place of Aaron Finch having played well in Pakistan and Sri Lanka earlier in the year. He has demonstrated flexibility in the types of roles he can play in our ODI line-up. Our next opportunity in the ODI format will be in India next year which will allow us to experience similar conditions as for the World Cup in October,” Bailey was quoted as saying by sen.com.au.
Following the ODI series against England later this month, Australia will also host West Indies in a two-Test series before Christmas. Opener Marcus Harris has kept his place in the 14-member squad for the West Indies series, with Cricket Australia (CA) also preferring Ashes hero Scott Boland over Jhye Richardson as the fourth specialist seam option.
“After some larger squads for the sub-continent tours over the winter, we have returned to a very similar squad to that which performed strongly last summer in comprehensively winning the Ashes,” said Bailey.
“Marcus Harris retains his place after continuing to perform for Gloucestershire in the English County competition and a strong start to the Marsh Sheffield Shield season,” he added.
Australia ODI squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Australian Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland , Alex Carey , Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner.
–IANS