Published: Oct 16, 2018, 12:31 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 16, 2018, 12:31 PM (IST)
Australia have decided to send the trio of Matt Renshaw, Brendan Doggett and Michael Neser back home to play the second round of the Sheffield Shield starting October 25 after they were deemed surplus to the Test team’s requirement for the Abu Dhabi match.
The fourth player not included in Australia’s XI for the ongoing second Test versus Pakistan, Ashton Agar, and the pair of Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa will serve as substitute fielders in Abu Dhabi if required. Agar, Maxwell and Zampa are part of Australia’s Twenty20 international squad for the upcoming series with Pakistan in the UAE.
Renshaw, Doggett and Neser now have the chance to prepare for the home Test series against India starting December 6.
Before that Test in Brisbane, Australia will host South Africa for three ODIs and a T20I and then play Virat Kohli’s team for three T20Is. From October 24-28 they will play Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
This diet of limited-overs cricket will deny Australia’s all-format players the chance to warm up for the India Test series with first-class exposure. The fifth round of Shield games is from November 27 and ends less than a week before the Brisbane Test.
Fast bowler Mitchell Starc, one of five cricketers named in Australia’s Test and T20I squads to face Pakistan in the UAE, told cricket.com.au that they need to put more focus on certain series.
“Guys that play that play all three formats … you know you can’t play every game over a 12-month period purely because of how much cricket we’ve got these days,” he said. “Sometimes tours overlap like they have in the past. You’ve got World Cups and Ashes and Indian Test series – they’re big series. Tests are always going to be the pinnacle for me, that’s what I what want to put my hand up and play first and foremost.”
