The legendary Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne has recently revealed his favourite Australian squad for the upcoming World Cup.
The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup will be played in England and Wales. It will be the 12th edition of the tournament that will run from 30th May to 14th July 2019. A total of ten teams will participate in this competition, including the record five-time World Cup champions Australia.
Australia will play the upcoming World Cup as the defending champions. They will start their upcoming World Cup journey on 1st June when they will face Afghanistan at Bristol.
While the World Cup is less than two months away to begin, every participating team is now busy for the final squad selection. All the teams have to announce the World Cup squad on or before 23rd April. New Zealand has already announced their final squad for the upcoming World Cup, and the other teams will also announce their squads very soon.
Before the Cricket Australia’s (CA) squad announcement for the upcoming World Cup, Shane Warne has recently revealed his favourite Australian squad for the forthcoming World Cup. The legendary leg-spinner posted that Australian squad on his official Twitter account.
Shane Warne’s favourite Australian team for 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup
Shane Warne has selected both David Warner and Steven Smith in his World Cup squad. Since their suspension in March 2018, they haven’t played an international match yet. Recently, both the players have completed their one-year suspension period, and they are now available to play for the national team. Both the senior cricketers are currently busy in the ongoing IPL 2019. While David Warner is in a great form with the bat as he is currently holding the Orange Cap in the IPL 2019, Steven Smith is also in a good batting form.
However, there are some surprising choices in Shane Warne’s Australian squad. Shane Warne has chosen D’Arcy Short as the opening partner of David Warner. Meanwhile, he hasn’t selected Usman Khawaja for the World Cup tournament. As an opening batsman, Usman Khawaja has recently impressed with his consistent performances. He won the Player of the Series award during Australia’s impressive ODI series victory in India in last March. The left-handed batsman was also the second most run-scorer for Australia in their recently concluded ODI series against Pakistan in UAE.
Also, Shane Warne hasn’t selected the pace bowler Josh Hazlewood. Along with Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, Shane Warne prefers the fit Jhye Richardson as the third pacer.
Meanwhile, Shane Warne has put Shaun Marsh in the reserve squad but dropped Peter Handscomb from the entire World Cup squad.
In the spin-bowling option, the legendary leg-spinner has chosen Adam Zampa in his favourite XI. On the other hand, the off-spinner Nathan Lyon is in the reserve squad.
Shane Warne’s 15-man Australian squad for the upcoming World Cup
Favourite XI: David Warner, D’Arcy Short, Aaron Finch, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson (if fit), Adam Zampa
Other four players: Shaun Marsh, Nathan Lyon, Ashley Turner, Nathan Coulter-Nile
https://twitter.com/ShaneWarne/status/1115373903503712256