Ashes 2017-18: Mitchell Johnson Declines Offer To Play Practice Game Against England
Nov 4, 2017 at 12:27 PM
Former Australian pacer, Mitchell Johnson, has denied the offer of selectors to play for the Western Australia XI in the practice game against visiting England side, ahead of the start of the Ashes series.
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Johnson’s presence in the side could have brought back the memories of last Ashes series in Australia, where he terrorized the batsmen with his pace and scalped 37 wickets, but the pacer decided not to have a go at England batsmen this time.
Johnson played his last international game in 2015 which came against New Zealand, in the second Test of the three-match series. His retirement came just ahead of the Pink ball Test, which was the first ever day-night Test match play at international level.
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The Joe Root led side has already suffered a big blow ahead of the game as Moeen Ali and Steven Finn have injured themselves during the practice session and are all set to miss the game. They have not been ruled out of the series, and England is still waiting on their availability.
England captain has also confirmed that they are looking for a man for the post of vice-captain after it was confirmed that Ben Stokes would not fly to Australia for the Ashes series.
The practice game between Western Australia XI and England will be played from November 4. The Western Australia XI squad includes Gurinder Sandhu, who has played two ODIs for Australia, both in 2015 before World Cup that year.
England will also play two four-day games later. Ryan Harris and Chris Rogers have been announced as the coach of the side.
Cricket Australia XI tour squad: Jake Carder, Jackson Coleman, Michael Cormack, Daniel Fallins, Ryan Gibson, Nick Larkin, Simon Milenko, Tim Paine, Will Pucovski, Gurinder Sandhu, Jason Sangha, Matthew Short.
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