Josh Hazlewood, an Australian pacer, will miss the forthcoming T20I series against Scotland because of a calf issue he sustained during training last week.
A new member of the team for the three-game series is Riley Meredith. In the format, he last competed for Australia in 2021. Though the selectors may exercise caution ahead of a demanding home summer that includes five Tests against India, Hazlewood’s injury is not that significant, and he should be available for the T20Is and ODIs against England later in September.
During the English season, Meredith represented Somerset in white-ball cricket, claiming 14 wickets at an average of 22.78 in the T20 Blast. In three one-day cup matches, he also grabbed six wickets, including a memorable 4 for 27 against Middlesex at Lord’s that enabled Somerset to advance to the final. In addition, after playing three years ago against the West Indies and New Zealand, he has eight T20I wickets.
Hazlewood is the second pacer to be ruled out of the series with an injury, after Spencer Johnson. Playing in the Hundred, Johnson suffered a strain to his side. Sean Abbott took his place in the squad.
The pace assault for the Scotland series will now consist of Nathan Ellis, Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott, and Meredith. They will be assisted by all-rounders Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, and Marcus Stoinis, while captain Mitchell Marsh may also chip in. Cooper Connolly, who is uncapped, and Adam Zampa will provide spin options.
Hazlewood was the only one of Australia’s top three fast bowlers to be selected for the entire tour of the United Kingdom at first. While Pat Cummins will not play for the entire tour in order to concentrate on his fitness and conditioning in preparation for the home summer, Mitchell Starc will play in the ODIs against England.
“The priority at the moment is to smash out some gym work and start reassessing in a few weeks a path forward,” Cummins said last week. “I’m just trying to fill up the bucket again after two years of non-stop bowling. (Hoping) come that first Test (against India) in as good of a position as I have been in for a few years.”
Australia will leave for Scotland on Monday. The opening match of the series will be played in Edinburgh on September 4.
Australia T20I squad vs Scotland: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Riley Meredith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.