Due to an injury, Shton Agar has been replaced by Marnus Labsuchagne on Australia’s 15-man World Cup roster. The only adjustment to Cricket Australia’s starting lineup is that, despite suffering an injury himself, dangerous batsman Travis Head has been kept in the lineup in the hopes that he would be able to fully recover in time for the competition’s halfway point.
Squad: Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Marsh, David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
When the provisional team was released on September 6, left-arm spinner Agar was chosen as one of the two frontline spinners. He was going to South Africa and his calf was painful. To be present for the birth of his first child, he had to return home. He missed the Indian series as a result.
Labsuchagne had the most runs scored overall with 283 from five games, averaging 70.75 runs per contest. He also participated in three games in India, scoring 138 runs at an average of 46 runs per game. Labsuchagne came back to South Africa for the ODI games.
The Australian team kept Head, a South Australian who suffered a hand injury in the fourth One-Day International match against South Africa and was still recovering. George Bailey, the chairman of the selection committee, said, “This was a tough call but regrettably we couldn’t carry both Travis and Ashton into the tournament.”
“We have opted to carry Travis through the early rounds of the competition in order to have Travis ready by the middle of the tournament. We are expecting that his return would give the team a boost as the season draws to a close because he has been an essential member of this ODI team.
“Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell are progressing well through the rehabilitation of their respective injuries, and it was pleasing to see them return to the playing eleven last night,” he continued.
The two players from the Indian tour, Matt Short and Tanveer Sangha, will remain with the group at least until the conclusion of the exhibition matches. Australia will face India on October 8 in Chennai in the opening game of their quest for a sixth ODI World Cup win.
