The Australian selectors had a few surprises in store when they announced the squad for the upcoming limited overs tour. Ace pacers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc were rested for the tour in a bid to remain fresh for the grueling home season ahead. In their absence, Victoria pacer John Hastings will lead the Australian bowling attack. Considering the recent form of Hastings, this isn’t a bad move.
For the tour, three uncapped pacers were named, who have impressed in the recent past. Chris Tremain, Joe Mennie and Daniel Worrall were rewarded with maiden call-ups after the trio backed up some impressive numbers in the recent past. Tremain in particular was quite good against India A in the recent concluded Quadrangular series.
Chief selector Rod Marsh commented that it was essential for Hazlewood and Starc to rest, and backed the trio to excel. “When we saw Starc and Hazlewood getting towards the end of Sri Lanka tour it was pretty obvious they needed a break and we talked with them before making any decisions,” Marsh said .”And deep down, we were pretty keen to see these other guys and how they would go at international level. “We’ve seen them at Shield level they’ve been good, we’ve seen them for Australia A they’ve been good and now they’ve got their opportunity which to us is really good because we’re trying to build depth.”
“I think they’ll all get game time in South Africa because apart from anything else, we want to see them. “Not only are we looking at one-day cricket, we’re looking at Test cricket, we’re looking at T20 cricket and they’ve all got the opportunity to show what they’ve got. “I think it’s a great opportunity with six one-day matches over there to see them all bowl and I would hope that they all get equal time, that would be nice,” Marsh added.
Despite not being picked for the tour, Marsh said that Usman Khawaja could well be on the tour if there were a few injury issues. “There’s still a really good opportunity for him to show something on this trip. “He may well go to South Africa, who knows? “We’ve got two blokes with broken fingers but we’re not too concerned about that at the moment because it’s a way off. “But anything could happen. “Uzzie Khawaja loves the game and he’ll find a way. “He’s a good player.”