Due to a persistent back ailment, Australia pace spearhead Pat Cummins was ruled out on Saturday for the Twenty20 World Cup, which takes place next month. Ben Dwarshuis will take his place.
Although Cummins only participated in one of the five Ashes tests against England, Australia included him in the initial World Cup team in the hopes that he would be available for the competition’s Super Eight stage, which will take place in India and Sri Lanka.
Despite his impressive performance in the Big Bash League, veteran Steve Smith was unable to make it into the World Cup squad. Matt Renshaw also took Matthew Short’s place as a batter.
“With Pat needing more time to recover from his back injury, Ben is a ready replacement who offers a left-arm pace option as well as dynamic fielding and late-order hitting,” selector Tony Dodemaide said.
“We believe his ability to swing the ball at good pace along with clever variations will be well suited to the conditions we expect and overall structure of the squad.”
As part of their World Cup preparations, the Mitchell Marsh-led team is presently playing a three-match Twenty20 series in Pakistan.
“With the top order settled and spin-heavy conditions expected in the pool stages in Sri Lanka, we also feel Matt provides extra middle-order support, with Tim David completing his return-to-play program in the early phase of the tournament. As a left-hander, he also offers a point of difference to the middle-order batting,” Dodemaide said of Renshaw’s selection.
In Thursday’s loss in Lahore, Renshaw scored 15 on his T20 debut for Australia.
The former champions will play Ireland in Colombo on February 11 to start their T20 World Cup campaign.
Australia World Cup squad: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Travis Head, Xavier Bartlett, Josh Hazlewood, Cooper Connolly, Josh Inglis, Tim David, Matthew Kuhnemann, Ben Dwarshuis, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Matthew Renshaw, Nathan Ellis, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
