Australia have reduced the 14-member squad that they had announced for the Perth Test against Pakistan to 13 for the Boxing Day Test to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) starting December 26. The announcement sees the omission of tearaway pacer Lance Morris.
Morris, 25, has been released to represent Perth Scorchers in the ongoing Big Bash League. He wasn’t able to find a place in the playing XI for the opening Test of the Australian summer.
Morris’ release substantiates the notion that the hosts might go ahead with the same playing XI that took the field in Perth.
Australia’s bowling looked as potent as ever during the opening Test of the summer. All the four frontline bowlers chipped in with useful contributions in both the innings and hence there wasn’t a point throughout the course of the Test that witnessed an Aussie bowler toil hard and really sweat it out for breakthroughs.
Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon finished with five wickets in the game and were the chief tormentors. Lyon, in particular, claimed his 500th Test wicket in the fixture and became only the third Australian to reach the feat behind legendary leg spinner Shane Warne (708 wickets) and Glenn McGrath (563 wickets).
The Boxing Day Test will be followed by the New Year’s Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney.
Australia’s squad for the Boxing Day Test:
Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner
Pakistan’s squad:
Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi
More to follow…..
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