Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the upcoming T20I series against Scotland due to a calf strain he suffered during practice last week.
Riley Meredith has been added to the squad for the three-match series. The quick bowler last played for Australia in the format back in 2021. But Hazlewood's injury is not that bad and he's likely to recover in time to feature in later this month's T20Is and ODIs against England though the selectors might want to play it safe ahead of a hectic home summer where they have five Tests against India scheduled.
He played white-ball cricket for Somerset in the English season, collecting 14 wickets at an average of 22.78 in the T20 Blast. He also claimed six wickets in three one-day cup matches, including taking an impressive 4 for 27 against Middlesex at Lord's as Somerset reached the final. He has also taken eight T20I wickets after playing against New Zealand and West Indies three years ago.
It means Hazlewood is the second pacer to be ruled out of the series due to injury, after Spencer Johnson. Johnson suffered a side strain playing in the Hundred and was replaced by Sean Abbott in the squad.
The pace attack for the series against Scotland is now Meredith, Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott and Nathan Ellis, backed up by allrounders Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie and Marcus Stoinis, captain Mitchell Marsh also potentially chiming in. Adam Zampa and the uncapped Cooper Connolly will be the spin options.
First of all, Hazlewood was the only one from Australia's big three fast bowlers who was picked for the whole UK tour. Mitchell Starc will play the ODIs against England, while Pat Cummins will miss the entire tour to focus on his strength and conditioning for the home summer.
"The priority at the moment is to smash out some gym work and start reassessing in a few weeks a path forward," Cummins said last week. "I'm just trying to fill up the bucket again after two years of non-stop bowling. (Hoping) come that first Test (against India) in as good of a position as I have been in for a few years."
Australia will leave for Scotland on Monday. The series-opening game is set in Edinburgh on September 4.
Australia T20I squad vs Scotland: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Riley Meredith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.
