Hyderabad: Cricket Australia have announced a 15-member preliminary squad for the ICC Champions Trophy set to start from February 19. Pat Cummins will lead the side while the duo of Matt Short and Aaron Hardie earned their maiden call-up for an ICC event. The focus of the selection is on players with all-round skills as it will be a crucial asset while playing in the tournament to be held across Pakistan and UAE.
Apart from the inclusion of Short and Hardie in the squad, Nathan Ellis has also booked a sport in the team while there is no place for Jake Fraser-McGurk after a rough patch this summer. The trio has replaced David Warner (retired), Cameron Green (back surgery) and Sean Abbott.
Our preliminary squad for the 2025 @ICC #ChampionsTrophy is here 🔥 pic.twitter.com/LK8T2wZwDr
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) January 13, 2025
Pat Cummins is supposed to lead the team but his presence is still under doubt as selection chair George Bailey revealed recently he carried an ankle problem throughout the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Josh Hazlewood who missed a couple of Tests in the series against India due to a calf injury and Mitchell Marsh have also made it back into the squad after being not named in the Tests against Sri Lanka.
JUST IN: Australia reveal a 15-player squad for the return of the ICC Champions Trophy next month | @jackpayn #ChampionsTrophy https://t.co/j4uK6Zkdl1
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 13, 2025
ICC made it mandatory for the participating countries to send their preliminary squads five weeks before the commencement of the competition. The teams will have a chance to make final changes to it till February 13, a week before the marquee event begins.
Australia are placed in Group B alongside South Africa, Afghanistan and England. The team will play all their group matches in Pakistan at Lahore and Rawalpindi.
