Australia makes surprise call-ups for South Africa tour

Australia, after registering a scintillating Ashes whitewash has woefully conceded the ODI series to visitors England. Thus, with the all-important South-Africa tour coming up next, the management has made a few permutations to the team in order to find the best suitable squad. And in a bid to do the same, they have made a couple of surprise call-ups to the national squad for the upcoming Test series against the Proteas, including Western Australia pacer Jhye Richardson and slow left-arm bowler Jon Holland.

Holland has featured in only two Tests for Australia when the side toured Sri Lanka in 2016. While Australia was whitewashed by the hosts in that series, Holland’s returns on the spin-friendly conditions weren’t impressive either. The left-armer managed to bag only five wickets from two games – averaging over 54.

Richardson, on the other hand, is yet to earn his Test cap. He made his international debut against Sri Lanka in a T20I series last year when Australia were forced to field a second-string side. The 21-year old pacer was handed his ODI debut in the ongoing series against England. A product of the Australia Under-19 side, the youngster has been fast-tracked into the national set-up at the back of a lot of promise. He has featured in only five first-class games, picking up 21 wickets for Western Australia.

 How the squad will look

The 15-member touring squad for the four-match series bears a predictable look, with the three-man pace attack Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood to give company to Nathan Lyon. Holland is the only other frontline spinner in the side, while the pace unit is backed by the services of Jackson Bird and Richardson, apart from all-rounder Mitchell Marsh.

While the limited-overs regulars like Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Adam Zampa, Marcus Stoinis and Travis Head also find a place in the side, the rest of the squad is relatively inexperienced. After playing a three-day warm-up game against South African Invitational XI, Australia will begin the series at Kingsmead in Durban on March 1. They will go on to play in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Test Squad:

Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Jon Holland, Jhye Richardson.

T20I Squad:

David Warner (c), Aaron Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

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