Australia captain Pat Cummins is in serious doubt for the ICC Champions Trophy with Josh Hazlewood also battling injury for Australia’s campaign, which begins on February 22nd against England at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Cummins did not travel to Sri Lanka for the four-match tour due to the birth of his second child, but has also been carrying an ankle injury that flared up during Australia’s 3-1 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series victory.
Steve Smith and Travis Head are being considered for captaincy duties if the 31-year-old is unavailable for selection for the one-day tournament.
The one-day players who were not selected in the Test team are expected to fly to Sri Lanka on Thursday with coach Andrew McDonald saying it is not likely that the captain will be among the travelling party, and there’s also doubt over fellow quick Hazlewood, who was not selected for the Sri Lanka series.
“Pat Cummins hasn’t been able to resume any type of bowling so he’s heavily unlikely, so that would mean that we do need a captain,” McDonald told SEN.
“Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two that we’ve been having conversations with while we’ve been building out that Champions Trophy team along with Pat back home. They’ll be the two that we look at for that leadership post.
“They’re the two obvious ones. Steve has done a great job here in the [first] Test match. He’s done some good work in one-day international cricket across the journey as well.
“So it’s between those two. But, as I said, Patty is hugely unlikely, which is a bit of shame, and we’ve also got Josh Hazlewood, who is battling [to be fit] at the moment. So that medical information will land over the next couple of days and we’ll be able to shore that up and let everyone know the direction.”
The second Test against Sri Lanka begins on Thursday afternoon (AEDT) before two ODIs against the same opponent are played on February 12 and 14 in the lead-up to the Champions Trophy.
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