Australia has named their 19-member squad for the tour of South Africa. With two tours scheduled to be played at the same time, Australia has to make some brave decisions while selecting the squad for the New Zealand T20Is and South Africa Tests.
Matthew Wade who is better with the bat in the shortest format of the game was selected for the New Zealand T20Is and had to be left out for the Test series in South Africa. Wade played as an opener and also in the middle-order in the recently concluded India Tests which they lost by a margin of 2-1. He scored just 123 runs at an average of just 21.62 in the four-Test match series.
In the middle of the India Test series, Travis Head was dropped owing to his poor form with the bat. With Wade dropped for South Africa Tests, it would be a brilliant opportunity for Head to make a comeback into the Test team. Moreover, Australia have included uncapped wicket-keeper batsman Alex Carey for this series who too plays in the middle-order. It would be tough fight between these two for the middle-order role.
Cameron Green bowled 44 overs in the four Test matches against India but failed to pick up a single wicket. However, he was pivotal for the home team with the bat in that series scoring quick runs or stitching crucial partnerships. His batting effort might have just saved him as he was named in this squad for South Africa tour.
Australia need to win this 3-match series against South Africa by a margin of at least 2-0 to secure a place in the ICC World Test Championship Final. Any other result in this series would make Australia look for favorable results from other Test series not involving Australia!
Australia’s squad for South Africa Tests: Tim Paine (c & wk), Pat Cummins (vc), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner
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