Australia have named five uncapped players in their 19-man squad for the three-match Test series in South Africa starting next month, with middle-order batter Matthew Wade the most significant casualty of the recent loss to India.
Australia Test squad for Qantas Tour of South Africa: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, 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.
Wade played all four matches of the Vodafone Series that India won 2-1 – two of them as an interim opener with David Warner absent through injury – but his return of 173 runs from eight innings at an average of 21.62 meant he was under pressure to retain his place.
Warner, Pucovski in line for Sydney Test
India s stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane has acknowledged stricter quarantine restrictions imposed on both teams for the final Tests of the Vodafone Series are a challenge but his players focus remains squarely trained on tomorrow s opening day at the SCG.
After his rival skipper Tim Paine suggested tension was starting to build between the teams and might spill over to some on-field exchanges in the third Test, Rahane typically played the straightest of bats to questions about frustrations within the touring party.
It was reported in recent days that unnamed sources within the India camp were unhappy that changed health advice meant players and staff would be confined to their exclusive hotels other than when they were training, playing or travelling to Test venues.
India s superstar captain Virat Kohli might be in Australia for one Test only, but don t expect him to come and go in a fireball of combativeness and controversy.
Kohli, who will return to India at the conclusion of the first Vodafone Test at Adelaide Oval for the birth of his first child with wife Anushka Sharma, has been involved in numerous on-field run-ins with Australian opponents since taking over his country s captaincy here in 2014.
But the 32-year-old, ranked second among Test batters in the world behind Australia s Steve Smith, believes the days of acrimony and enmity that reached its nadir after a heated series in India in 2017 are largely consigned to the past.