Star paceman Pat Cummins was ruled out of Australia’s Twenty20 World Cup campaign on Saturday, while batsman Matthew Renshaw has come into the squad at the expense of Matt Short.
Test skipper Cummins only played one of the five Ashes Tests against England over the Australian summer as he slowly recovers from a lower back injury.
He was hoping to be fit for the tournament in India and Sri Lanka beginning on February 7, but has run out of time and been replaced by Ben Dwarshuis.
“With Pat needing more time to recover from his back injury, Ben is a ready replacement who offers a left-arm pace option as well as dynamic fielding and late-order hitting,” selector Tony Dodemaide said.
“We believe his ability to swing the ball at good pace, along with clever variations, will be well-suited to the conditions we expect and overall structure of the squad.”
The only other change to the provisional squad named this month sees Renshaw come in for Short, who has paid the price for his ordinary performances in the Big Bash League.
“Matt (Renshaw) has impressed in all formats of late, including in multiple roles in white ball formats for Australia, the Queensland Bulls and the Brisbane Heat,” Dodemaide said.
“With the top order settled and spin-heavy conditions expected in the pool stages in Sri Lanka, we also feel Matt provides extra middle-order support, with Tim David completing his return to play programme in the early phase of the tournament.”
Big-hitter David is on the comeback trail from a hamstring injury.
The squad is spin-heavy in preparation for the sub-continent conditions, with left-armer Matt Kuhnemann and Cooper Connolly complementing chief tweaker Adam Zampa and part-timer Glenn Maxwell.
Australia’s group-stage matches are all being played in Sri Lanka. They open their account against Ireland in Colombo on February 11.
Squad: Mitchell Marsh (capt), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.
