Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the pink ball Test match against the West Indies due to general soreness. Micheal Neser has been named as his replacement. This is the second player missing out due to injury as skipper Pat Cummins too missed this Test match.
Steve Smith will be given the captaincy responsibility in his absence. Scott Boland and Micheal Neser have joined the playing 11 to complete the team’s bowling attack.
Coincidentally when England played against Australia in the Ashes the previous year at the same venue, Adelaide both Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins missed out on the test match due to Covid 19 at that time.
Australia are 1-0 ahead in the series
Australia won convincingly over the visitors in the first test match of the series. They defeated them by 164 runs. Marnus Labuschangne and Steve Smith both scored double centuries in the test match. The two batters have continued delivering their consistent performances for the Aussies in this format. There was some resistance put in by the West Indies batters as their captain Kraigg Braithwaite scored a century but ultimately it went in vain.
The second match is a pink ball Test match in which the hosts Australia has an upper hand as they have won all the pink ball matches that they have played so far.
They will be looking to start a long tedious summer and international schedule on a high, keeping their qualification hopes for the World Test Championship final which will be played mostly on June 7 at the Oval on a high.
Australia have won the toss and opted to bat first. At the time of writing, the hosts are currently at 80/1 with David Warner back in the pavilion.
Playing 11 for Australia: Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Marnus Labuschangne, Steve Smith ( C ), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (WK), Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Micheal Neser, Nathan Lyon
Get the latest cricket news here, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more such updates.
