Australia announced 15-member preliminary squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 hosted by Pakistan from February 19 as Pat Cummins will lead the 2006 and 2009 champions. Concerns were raised about Pat Cummins\u2019 availability after it was recently announced that he will not be joining the Test team in Sri Lanka later this month due ankle injury but now he has named as captain and will lead Australia in the tournament. When Australia\u2019s Test team visits Sri Lanka in late January, his wife Becky is expected to give birth to the couple\u2019s second child. It was recently disclosed that he suffered from an ankle injury during his team\u2019s triumphant Border-Gavaskar Test series in Australia. Pat Cummins\u2019 fellow pacer Josh Hazlewood, who missed Australia\u2019s Test series against India because of a calf injury halfway through, will also make a comeback. Quick Nathan Ellis has also secured a berth while Matt Short and Aaron Hardie have been called up for their first-ever squad calls for an ICC event. They are the three replacements for Sean Abbott, Cameron Green (back surgery), and David Warner (retired) in the team that won the ICC Men\u2019s Cricket World Cup 2023. \u201cIt offers a variety of options for touring management depending on opposition and the conditions that may present in Pakistan,\u201d Australian selection chief George Bailey said. \u201cThis is a balanced and experienced squad with the core having been involved in the previous one-day World Cup, the West Indies series, last year\u2019s successful tour of the UK and the more recent Pakistan home series,\u201d said Bailey. Australia will start their campaign against fierce rivals England in Lahore on February 22. The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is set to kick off on 19 February with Pakistan, the host and defending champions, taking on New Zealand in the curtain-raiser in Karachi. Australia squad Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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