Australia will adopt a rotation policy for the ODI captaincy in games Pat Cummins sits out, with Josh Hazlewood leading for the first time against England at the SCG on Saturday.
Hazlewood became Australia’s second new captain in as many games, taking over from fellow paceman Cummins as he was rested ahead of the Test summer.
But Australia have made it clear that Hazlewood is not the only fall-back option, and will by no means captain the team every time Cummins is rested.
Officials suggested last month that they could move the captaincy between several players when Cummins is out
Alex Carey has previously stepped in for former skipper Aaron Finch when he was injured last year, while Steve Smith was Australia’s long-time one-day captain.
Smith was named as vice-captain under Hazlewood for Saturday’s match.
David Warner has also previously captained the team, and is hopeful of having his leadership ban reviewed this month.
At the toss on Saturday, Hazlewood made reference to the leadership group.
“I’m standing in (for) this game, and hopefully it is a nice and seamless transition,” Hazlewood said.
“Pat was happy to have a rest with the amount of cricket coming up.
“Just a nice little ‘you’ll captain next game’. It’s a wider leadership group so just standing in for this game.”
By handing Hazlewood the captaincy for Saturday, officials gave the quick some experience in a role he has not previously held in any elite team.
It means that of their likely World Cup squad for next year’s tournament in India, at least five players will have captained their country.
The call has also shown selectors are happy to rest Cummins, with more than 100 days of cricket for Australia in the next 12 months.
Concerns over the paceman’s workload were the biggest question mark when he was appointed ODI captain last month.
Pat Cummins of Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
“I don’t expect Pat to play every one-day game in the lead-up to the World Cup,” chief selector George Bailey said at the announcement.
“We’ve got a number of players within the group who can assume the leadership should they need to.
“So I expect we might see two or three guys taking the leadership at some stage.
“We are moving away from this concept of a captain taking over and their leadership being all encompassing. It’s very much a collaboration at times.”
Meanwhile, Australia continued Test preparations on Saturday with Cameron Green sent back home to Perth to prepare for the series opener against West Indies on November 30.
Josh Inglis joined the ODI squad in his place.
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