Cummins 'heavily unlikely' for Champions Trophy, Smith or Head to captain – T20 IPL 2024

Australia captain Pat Cummins is “heavily unlikely” for the Champions Trophy due to his ankle issue with Steven Smith or Travis Head in the frame to captain while Josh Hazlewood is also battling to be fit, according to coach Andrew McDonald.

Cummins missed the Test tour of Sri Lanka due to the birth of his second child but he has also been nursing an ankle issue that had flared up after a heavily workload in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Australia’s ODI players who are not on the Test tour are due to fly out to Sri Lanka on Thursday but McDonald revealed on Wednesday morning that Cummins is unlikely to be among them.

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“Pat Cummins hasn’t been able to resume any type of bowling so he’s heavily unlikely, so that would mean that we do need a captain,” McDonald told SEN.

“Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two that we’ve been having conversations with while we’ve been building out that Champions Trophy team along with Pat back home. They’ll be the two that we look at for that leadership post.

“They’re the two obvious ones. Steve has done a great job here in the Test match. He’s done some good work in One-Day International cricket across the journey as well. So it’s between those two.

“But as I said, Patty is hugely unlikely which is a bit of shame and we’ve also got Josh Hazlewood who is battling at the moment. So that medical information will land over the next couple of days and we’ll be able to shore that up and let everyone know the direction.”

Hazlewood is understood to be battling a hip issue after recovering from the side and calf injuries that saw him miss three of the five Tests against India and the Test tour of Sri Lanka.

Mitchell Marsh has already been ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to a back injury. He is unlikely to play the remainder of the domestic season but there is a possibility he could still play in the IPL for Lucknow Super Giants.

Australia have yet to name a replacement for Marsh for the Champions Trophy. McDonald confirmed on Sunday after the Test win in Galle that Beau Webster was a chance to be called into the ODI squad despite not yet having played ODI cricket for Australia given the desire to add another seam bowling allrounder into the mix. Australia have Aaron Hardie and Marcus Stoinis in the squad already but both have injury concerns. Hardie has only just returned to bowling after a summer plagued by quad problems while Stoinis suffered some hamstring tightness recently while playing in the SA20 and did not bowl in his last match for Durban Super Giants.

The absence of Cummins and Hazlewood will open the door for Sean Abbott to return to the ODI frame after missing selection for the final Champions Trophy squad due to his recent ODI form. Spencer Johnson will also come into the mix as he was set to fly to Sri Lanka as cover for the ODI squad.

Legspinner Tanveer Sangha has been flown to Sri Lanka ahead of the second Test for development purposes but McDonald confirmed he could play a part in the two ODIs in Colombo before the team flies to the Champions Trophy. Sangha appears likely to be a reserve player in Pakistan, as he was for the ODI World Cup in India in 2023, given Australia only has one specialist spinner in Adam Zampa in their 15.

Australia’s selectors will have a challenge cobbling an XI together for the first ODI against Sri Lanka on February 12 given there is only one travel day scheduled between the fifth day on the second Test and the first ODI, with ODI squad members Head, Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc all set to play in the Test match. But there may be extra days to recover if the Test ends quickly on a surface that already appears much drier than the previous one.

Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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