Australia vs Pakistan 2016/17: Hilton Cartwright Added To Australia’s Squad For Boxing Day Test
Dec 20, 2016 at 12:33 PM
The Australian selection committee led by Trevor Hohns has added all-rounder Hilton Cartwright to the Test squad for the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan. He has been included as a backup for the Australian pacers, who had to bowl extra overs in the last innings of the nail-biting Brisbane Test. The trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Jackson Bird bowled 113 overs in between them in the last innings.
“The bowlers got through a high workload in Brisbane and although everyone has pulled up okay, on reflection we wanted to give ourselves the option of including an all-rounder in Melbourne to ease that workload somewhat,” Hohns said.
“To do that we wanted a batting all-rounder, someone to bowl seam-up and capable of batting in the top six as well, and after considering several names we came to the conclusion that Hilton fits that bill.
“We have seen plenty of him, he has performed well this season and we believe that if called upon he will do an excellent job,” Hohns added.
Cartwright was earlier selected in Australia’s ODI squad for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy against New Zeland but did not play a single game.
This time, he has been preferred over Mitchell Marsh, who was dropped for the last two Tests vs South Africa at Hobart and Adelaide.
Australia’s second Test against Pakistan starts from December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Steven Smith’s men, despite a win in the first Test, will have to pull up their socks in order to seal the series at the end of the year.
Australia Squad for Boxing Day Test vs Pakistan:
David Warner, Matthew Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Hilton Cartwright, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers, Nathan Lyon