Last Updated on 3 years ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: List of unavailable Australian players for the tour of South Africa | Details on unavailable Australia players
The Australian tour of South Africa begins with the first T20I to be held in Durban on Wednesday. The two sides will square off in three T20Is and five One Day Internationals (ODIs) as they prepare for the World Cup starting in India from October 5.
Australia, the five-time world champions, will be looking to reclaim the title, which they last won in 2015. However, the visitors do not have a full-strength squad at their disposal in South Africa. Here is a list of the players, including several key stars, who are missing the tour due to various reasons.
Which Australian players are unavailable for the South Africa tour?
Steven Smith
The batting mainstay will be missing the entire South Africa tour as he continues to recover from a wrist injury. In fact, the player was battling the same throughout the Ashes and was wearing a splint earlier this month to expedite his recovery. However, he will be returning to the scheme of things for the three-match ODI series in India later in September.
Mitchell Starc
The left-arm pacer has stayed back in Australia to recover from a groin injury that he picked up in England. Starc holds the key for the team during major tournaments like the World Cup but it is still unclear whether he will be coming back into the squad for the ODI series against India.
Pat Cummins
The Australian skipper suffered a small fracture in his wrist as well and will hence miss both the T20I and ODI series against South Africa. Chair of selectors and former captain George Bailey has insisted that they are undertaking a conservative approach for this tour as the players battled significant workload during the World Test Championship (WTC) final and Ashes.
Cummins should be fit in time for the ODIs against India.
Glenn Maxwell
Glenn Maxwell has flown back from South Africa after aggravating his left ankle. It is the same leg that he broke in a freak birthday party incident last year. However, he is confident he will be fit for the India ODIs.
Matthew Wade is his replacement.
