Australia have named a 16-player squad for the white-ball leg of their tour of Pakistan, with David Warner, Glenn Maxwell and their three star fast bowlers missing. However, Cricket Australia will not be releasing its contracted stars to join the early stages of IPL 2022, which is expected to clash with the limited-overs leg of the Pakistan tour.
CA today named a “talented and versatile squad” that national selector George Bailey admitted had been difficult to pull together given the hectic schedule Australia faces, with a mid-year tour to Sri Lanka and home T20 World Cup looming.
“We have picked a talented and versatile squad with a number of challenges to juggle, including the tour structure of predominantly 50 over games, management of several multi-format players in the medium to long term; and our need to build experience and depth in preparation for two short-form World Cups within the next 18 months,” Bailey said in a statement.
“We’re confident the squad can both compete successfully on this tour and continue our progress towards those crucial tournaments,” he added.
The 16 men who will be representing Australia in the white-ball leg of our upcoming tour of Pakistan ⬇️🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/wUUTtPDov2
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) February 22, 2022
Meanwhile, Matthew Wade’s absence will open the door for Josh Inglis, who will take the gloves for Australia for the first time following his impressive debut series against Sri Lanka. Alex Carey, who captained Australia in their most recent ODI campaign last year, is expected to take the gloves for the one-day portion of the tour.
In David Warner‘s absence, Ben McDermott looks set to continue his extended run as Aaron Finch’s opening partner having opened in all five T20s against Sri Lanka.
Australia’s ODI and T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa