Top

Australia rest stars for final ODIs v England

Australia announced that several stars will miss one or both of the remaining matches against England in Perth and Adelaide.

Sydney: With the one-day series already won, Australia announced that several stars will miss one or both of the remaining matches against England in Perth next Friday and Adelaide today.

Leading runmakers David Warner, man-of-the-match with 71 off 70 balls in Sunday night's emphatic victory, and wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin will skip the two matches.

National Selector John Inverarity said Monday they would "take a well-deserved break" while skipper Michael Clarke would not play in Perth.

"He will re-join the ODI squad for Adelaide, as will Shane Watson," Inverarity said.

The injury-prone all-rounder Watson played the first one-day match in Melbourne but sat out the Brisbane and Sydney legs and will not play in Perth.

"George Bailey will captain the team in Perth and Mitch(ell) Johnson has been appointed vice-captain for this fixture."

Matthew Wade takes over from veteran Haddin and Steve Smith joins the squad and would likely replace Clarke in the middle order, Inverarity said.

Despite the changes, Clarke made clear after taking an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the ODI series, that Australia would fight for a total 10-0 whitewash of England after the 5-0 Ashes triumph as he pushes the team to recover world number one status.

Australia squad: George Bailey, Michael Clarke (Adelaide only), Mitchell Johnson, Dan Christian, Xavier Doherty, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Clint McKay, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Shane Watson (Adelaide only).

( Source : AFP )
Next Story