Sydney: Australia have left their three most experienced fast bowlers out of the white-ball squads for the home series against England, resting Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood as they manage workloads ahead of a demanding run of Test cricket.
The announcement, made on Monday, covers eight white-ball fixtures against England — three ODIs and five T20Is — beginning in Perth on November 13. Mitchell Marsh, Cummins’ regular deputy and the T20I captain, will lead both sides.
The decision is a rest, not a dropping. All three pacers played in each of the three Tests in Australia’s recent 2-1 series defeat in South Africa, and selectors have chosen to stand them down with red-ball assignments against New Zealand and India on either side of Christmas on the horizon. Cummins formally remains ODI captain, but he has played only one 50-over match since November 2024, and Marsh will step in again.
“We are in the middle of a highly demanding phase of our schedule,” chair of selectors George Bailey said, explaining that multi-format players are moving directly from the South Africa tour into white-ball cricket, leaving only a narrow window to ensure they are physically prepared and fresh for the upcoming New Zealand Test series.
The squads hand opportunities to the next generation. Young fast bowler Mahli Beardman, 21, has been named in both squads after recovering from injury and is in line for a possible ODI debut. Left-armer Spencer Johnson, batter Ollie Peake and all-rounders Liam Scott and Jack Edwards also feature, while Sam Harper and Lachlan Shaw are the uncapped players in the T20I group.
Nathan Ellis will miss the ODI leg as he continues his recovery from a side strain picked up against South Africa in September, though he is named in the T20I squad. Test players Travis Head, Matthew Renshaw, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis and Cooper Connolly will feature in the ODIs but skip the T20Is, leaving plenty of new faces for the shortest format.
Australia’s ODI squad is: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Jack Edwards, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Ollie Peake, Matthew Renshaw, Liam Scott and Adam Zampa.
The T20I squad is: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman, Nikhil Chaudhary, Tim David, Joel Davies, Jack Edwards, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Spencer Johnson, Mitch Owen, Lachlan Shaw and Adam Zampa.
England will play a warm-up match at the WACA in Perth on November 7 before the first ODI at Optus Stadium on November 13. The ODI series runs to November 18, followed by five T20Is starting November 21 and ending in Canberra on December 2.
For Australia, the series is both a changing of the guard and a statement of priorities. With a home Test series against New Zealand starting December 9 and a five-Test tour of India to follow, plus the 150th-anniversary Test against England at Melbourne in March, the selectors have decided that the pace trio’s freshness for Test cricket matters more than their presence against England in white-ball cricket this month. The younger bowlers now have a chance to prove they belong at international level — against Australia’s oldest rivals.
