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Australia will send an advance party of eight players to India this week to help acclimatise to the playing conditions ahead of the four-Test series later this month, Cricket Australia said yesterday. |
Chief selector John Inverarity said the squad would travel to India in three separate groups catering for playing commitments in the current one-day series at home against the West Indies which ends next week.
“It is planned to have Jackson Bird, Ed Cowan, Moises Henriques, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Steve Smith travel to India on Thursday (February 7),” Inverarity said.
He added that all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and wicketkeeper Matthew Wade would leave on Saturday along with opening batsman David Warner, who is recovering from a thumb injury.
“The remaining six players—Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Xavier Doherty, Mitchell Starc, Phillip Hughes, Mitchell Johnson—will travel on February 11 at the conclusion of the ODI series against West Indies, subject to minor alterations,” he said.
“The players in the 17-man squad will travel to India in three separate groups in an effort to find the best balance for players.”
Australia, who have lost five of their last seven Tests in India and have not won a series there since 2004, have two warm-up games in Chennai ahead of the opening Test in the same city on February 22-26.
Inverarity said teenage left-arm spinner Ashton Agar would also travel to India and spend a week, playing in the first warm-up fixture and providing nets practice for the Australian batsmen in the lead-up to the Chennai Test.
“Last year we took Mitchell Starc to the West Indies to further his development and this is a similar opportunity for Ashton,” Inverarity said.
Australia touring squad - Michael Clarke (captain), Ed Cowan, David Warner, Phil Hughes, Shane Watson, Matthew Wade, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Moises Henriques, James Pattinson, Xavier Doherty, Jackson Bird, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith.
Watson returns to Australia one-day side
All-rounder Shane Watson returned to the Australia squad for the ongoing one-day international series against West Indies at the expense of Usman Khawaja yesterday.
Watson missed Australia’s victories in the first two encounters in the five-match series because of a calf problem and has been recalled as an opener for the third and fourth matches in Canberra tomorrow and Sydney on Friday.
“Shane Watson comes back into the squad ... as an opening batsman. Shane has recovered from his injury and we look forward to seeing him get back to his best,” chief selector John Inverarity said in a news release.
Khawaja made eight not out and three as Australia beat West Indies by nine wickets and 54 runs in the first two matches in Perth.
Squad: Michael Clarke (captain), George Bailey, Ben Cutting, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Phillip Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Clint McKay, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, Shane Watson.
Clarke wins fourth Allan Border Medal
Australian captain Michael Clarke won his fourth Allan Border Medal as the nation’s cricketer of the year at a gala ceremony in Melbourne yesterday.
Clarke, 31, and his predecessor as captain Ricky Ponting, are the only players to win the medal, considered Australian cricket’s most prestigious individual prize, four times.
The Test and one-day skipper won for the second straight year with 198 votes, ahead of joint runners-up Mike Hussey and two-time winner Shane Watson, who each polled 165 votes.
Clarke also comfortably won the Test cricketer of the year award, again for the second year in a row, after scoring 1,080 runs at an average of 77.14 in the nine Tests covered by the voting period, from February 25 last year to January 28 this year.
Watson won the Twenty20 award and also polled well for the one-day honour, which was won by paceman Clint McKay.
Top-order batsman Phil Hughes, who moved from New South Wales to South Australia ahead of the season, was named the domestic player of the year, and Queensland batsman Joe Burns was voted the Bradman young cricketer of the year.
