Melbourne, Aug 11 (Inditop.com) Cricket Australia (CA) Tuesday dropped Michel Hussey, Peter Siddle and Nathan Bracken from the Twenty20 side and selected young wicket-keeper Tim Paine in the one-day squad for the eight ODIs and two Twenty20s in England from Aug 28.
National selection panel chairman Andrew Hilditch said the Twenty20 squad was picked keeping in mind the World Twenty20 in the West Indies in May.
“Ricky Ponting is having his workload managed and will return home to Australia after the fifth Test at The Oval and will miss the ODI against Scotland, the two Twenty20s and the start of the of the ODI series against England,” Hilditch said.
“This is the last opportunity we have to give Ricky a break until next year, with the ICC Champions Trophy, ODIs against India and of course a full domestic summer against the West Indies and Pakistan to finish 2009. The plan for him to return to Australia before rejoining the team is considered the most appropriate course of action,” he added.
Hilditch said that it would be a wonderful opportunity for Michael Clarke to captain in the two Twenty20s and one ODI against Scotland.
“Notable omissions from the Twenty20 squad are Mike Hussey, Peter Siddle and Nathan Bracken. The selection panel is using the two matches against England to look at different make-ups to the squad and include players who we consider Twenty20 specialists in preparation for the ICC World Twenty20 next year,” he said.
Hilditch went on to add that Hussey and Bracken are talented players in one-day and Twenty20 cricket but the selection panel wants to look at different players to improve Twenty20 performances.
“Their omissions do not mean we won’t look to them for the World Twenty20. Peter Siddle is an exciting young bowler and we are sure that he will be a good Twenty20 bowler in time, but we are keen to look at different players as specialist Twenty20 players in these two matches. In this instance we have selected Dirk Nannes following his strong domestic performances in recent seasons to have a look at him in the Australian set up,” he said.
Paine is the only new face in the squad and has performed outstandingly in the recent Australia A series and the selectors thought it was necessary to have a second wicketkeeper on tour.
“Tim has been picked not only because he is an excellent wicketkeeper but because he has opened the batting in this form of the game with great success, which gives us good versatility if Brad Haddin misses any of the ODIs,” Hilditch said.
ODI squad: Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke (vice-captain), Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Peter Siddle, Shane Watson, Cameron White.
Twenty20 squad: Michael Clarke (captain), Brad Haddin (vice-captain), Callum Ferguson, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, David Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Dirk Nannes, Adam Voges, David Warner, Shane Watson, Cameron White.