Cricket Australia announces squad for T20Is against South Africa and India

The left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff has been included in the Australia squad to face South Africa in the one-off T20I match and the forthcoming three-match T20I series against India. The T20s would be missed by the likes of Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle, and Mitchell Marsh as Australia look to preserve their resources for the four-match Test series against India.

Stoinis missed the entire T20I series against Pakistan, owing to a hamstring injury. He made a return to the side, picking up three wickets when Australia were hammered by South Africa at Perth. In the remaining two One-Dayers and the T20Is, Stoinis will look to prove his credentials.

“Marcus missed our recent T20 matches in the UAE because he hadn’t resumed bowling, but now he’s back to full fitness and will add great depth to our squad. Marcus is such a versatile player, he’s a powerful middle-order and provides us with another solid bowling option,” head coach Justin Langer said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

Jason Behrendorff makes a comeback to the squad

The 28-year old fast bowler Jason Behrendorff will look to solidify his spot in the shortest format for Australia. He announced his arrival at Guwahati by taking four wickets for 21 runs, a performance which ended up earning him an IPL contract with the Mumbai Indians franchise.

A chronic back injury, however, forced him to miss the entire tournament. He bounced back by taking three wickets for 35 runs in the tour match against South Africa. “Jason Behrendorff has also earned a spot in the squad after returning to full fitness. It was exciting to see him bow well in the JLT cup and in the recent Prime Minister’s XI match, which further gave us evidence that how devastating he can be with the new ball. Tactically we believe it’s good to have a left-arm swing bowler at our disposal for the four matches,” Langer said.

Langer also added that while four of our frontline players have the desire to play for Australia in all the formats, the selectors have kept in mind the busy schedule that lies ahead and have taken the decision.

“We know coming back off the tour of UAE, a huge summer at home, the World Cup, and the Ashes just around the corner that we have to get the balance right between playing our best T20 team the preparation for the upcoming test series.”

The coach added further by saying, “While I know all four have a desire of playing for Australia in every format, with a really tough test series against India coming up, we believe that their best preparation is to go back and get some really good cricket under their belts in the Sheffield Shield.”

T20I Squad for South Africa and India:

Aaron Finch(C), Alex Carey(VC), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Mcdermott, D’arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Andrew Tye, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.