No Marnus Labuschagne; CA Announce Preliminary 2023 ODI World Cup Squad
Melbourne: With two months still to go for the most-awaited event in the cricketing calendar – the ODI World Cup 2023, the Australian board has already announced a preliminary squad for the marquee event and it is full of surprises. Uncapped leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha and inexperienced all-rounder Aaron Hardie are the surprise selections, with Test star Marnus Labuschagne the notable omission from Australia’s squad.
Australia’s preliminary World Cup squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
Pat Cummins was revealed to have a fractured wrist that will keep him sidelined for six weeks but will join the ODI squad in South Africa in preparation for a return to playing in India, where Australia have a three-game series in late September ahead of the World Cup.
Mitchell Starc is also recuperating from a shoulder injury picked up in the Ashes but has been cleared for the South Africa ODIs.
Cummins – Australia’s ODI captain – has “an undisplaced fracture of his left radius which requires six weeks rehabilitation,” said Australia’s selection chair George Bailey.
“We view a period of enforced rest for Pat as a positive ahead of this important World Cup campaign.
“There are still a number of games he could play before the World Cup which is more than enough for him to have a strong preparation.”
Selectors have not named a vice-captain for the ODI squad. Hazlewood skippered the team in one match against England last November, while Steve Smith took on the job for a three-match tour of India in March this year.
Sangha’s selection is a real bolt from the blue – the 21-year-old has not played any top-level cricket since a one-day domestic practice match in Coffs Harbour last September, after which he was diagnosed with a back stress fracture that sidelined him for the entire 2022-23 summer.
Sangha had previously toured with Australia’s T20 squad to New Zealand in February 2021, and while named in an extended squad for tours of the Caribbean and Bangladesh later that year, he ultimately did not make the touring party.
Glenn Maxwell will miss the ODI leg of the South Africa tour with the 34-year-old expecting the arrival of his first child, and will join the squad in India, where they are scheduled to play a three-match ODI series between September 22 and 27 with games in Mohali, Indore and Rajkot.
Official warm-up fixtures against yet-to-be-named opponents will follow before Australia will then meet India again in a blockbuster opener to their World Cup campaign proper, in Chennai on October 8.
(With inputs from CA)