After giving England a torrid time this winter, Australia seemed to take pity on the tourists today by naming a weakened 14-man Twenty20 squad for their three‑match series.
David Warner, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson — who were all key to the 5-0 Ashes whitewashing and have helped the hosts take an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the one‑day series — have been left out of the Twenty20 line-up.
Instead, Australia have turned to players such as leg-spinner James Muirhead, who has just two first‑class appearances to his name and only four in the shortest format. However, he did take three for 52 for a Prime Minister’s XI against Alastair Cook’s men in a tour match last week.
Muirhead and several others will be given their chance to earn a place in Australia’s World Twenty20 squad, which will be named on February 16.
“The ICC World Twenty20 is just around the corner and these and other players will come into contention for our 15-man squad for that tournament,” said national selector John Inverarity. “The National Selection Panel are looking to develop spin bowling options for the World Twenty20 and 2015 ICC World Cup.”
Warner, Watson and Johnson will fly out to South Africa on January 29 — the date of the first Twenty20 at Hobart — to prepare for the Test series, which begins on February 12 in Centurion.
While the Aussies can relax, the agony goes on for England skipper Cook, who yesterday oversaw his side’s eighth defeat to the hosts in 86 days. After the seven-wicket one-day loss in Sydney, Cook admitted he was considering his position as captain.
“I think I’m going to have to make a decision on that after you take stock of the next two games [to end the series],” he said.
“We’ll sit down and talk over a lot of things. I think there will be some changes. I think English cricket needs a little bit of a change as well.”
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Australia T20 squad: G Bailey (captain), A Finch, D Christian, N Coulter-Nile, B Cutting, J Faulkner, J Hazelwood, M Henriques, G Maxwell, J Muirhead, C Lynn, M Starc, M Wade, C White.
