In addition to Ben Dwarshuis and Glenn Maxwell being able to return for the latter stages of the forthcoming T20I series against India, young WA quick Mahli Beardman has also been called up for the T20Is, and Jack Edwards, an all-rounder from New South Wales, has been called into his first international squad after being added to Australia’s ODI team for the final Sydney match.
Marnus Labuschagne was dropped from the ODI team ahead of the last match in Sydney on Saturday in order to prepare for Queensland’s Sheffield Shield match against NSW, which begins on Tuesday at the Gabba. Cricket Australia confirmed a number of changes to the two white-ball squads on Friday.
Josh Hazlewood and Sean Abbott will both miss the latter stages of the Twenty20 International series against India in order to play for NSW in the round four Shield match against Victoria, which begins on November 10 at the SCG. Abbott will depart Australia’s squad following the third Twenty20 International in Hobart, while Hazlewood will only participate in the first two Twenty20 Internationals. Abbott is recuperating from split webbing in his hand.
Edwards and Matthew Kuhnemann, who participated in the first ODI against India in Perth but was left out of the second in Adelaide due to Adam Zampa’s return, were called up to the team for the third match in Sydney. Because Josh Inglis is still recovering from a calf strain, there is still uncertainty regarding his fitness, thus Josh Philippe, who also played in the first ODI but was benched for the second when Alex Carey returned, was included to the T20I team as the backup wicketkeeper.
After fracturing his wrist bowling in the nets in New Zealand late last month, Maxwell was ruled out of the first two games of the T20I series but will play in the final three.
Due to a calf injury, Dwarshuis missed the ODI series and the first three T20Is; nevertheless, he has been selected to play in Queensland for the fourth and fifth games.
A surprising call-up for the final three Twenty20 Internationals is Beardman, 20. The former Australia Under-19 player, who had only played one List A match for Western Australia, was unexpectedly included as an injury substitute for Australia’s 2024 white-ball tour of England. He has had a strong start to his T20 and List A careers with the Perth Scorchers and Western Australia, despite recovering from stress fractures during the winter.
In his final T20 outing in January, he collected 3 for 17 in his second BBL match. In his first four List A games for Western Australia, he has taken 12 wickets at 17.75 with an economy rate of 5.75, including 3 for 48 and 2 for 55 in his first two games since returning from injury this season.
Australia A’s recent tour of India saw some outstanding performances, which led to Edwards’ call-up to the ODI squad. He took 4 for 56 and 89 off 75 in the second and third 50-over matches in Kanpur, respectively, while captaining Australia A. He also scored 88 in the second four-day match in Lucknow.
Australia will be able to lengthen their batting and test an all-rounder heavy lineup in Sydney thanks to his arrival to the squad. Since the second and third ODIs are separated by just one day, the selectors would have the opportunity to rest one or both of Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc with such an XI.
India
