Last Updated on 40 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey
Australia’s highly-anticipated tour of South Africa kicks off on Thursday with the first of three ODIs.
The Australians come into the series on the back of a 3-0 series win in Zimbabwe, but the scoreline isn’t reflective of how tight the contests were at times. The core of the team will be similar in South Africa, but there are the questions of Cameron Green’s availability plus which pace bowlers feature in the opening match.
Australia possible/predicted playing XI for 1st ODI vs South Africa in Durban
1. Mitchell Marsh (c), 2. Travis Head, 3. Cooper Connolly, 4. Josh Inglis (wk), 5. Cameron Green, 6. Matt Renshaw, 7. Oliver Peake, 8. Mitchell Starc, 9. Nathan Ellis, 10. Adam Zampa, 11. Josh Hazlewood
According to cricket.com.au, Green was close to featuring in the final ODI against Zimbabwe. However, Australia opted against playing him, meaning he missed all three matches due to shoulder soreness.
If Green plays, it will likely be for Alex Carey given Josh Inglis and Matt Renshaw each hit a century in Zimbabwe, and Cooper Connolly won player of the series.
On the bowling front, Pat Cummins is likely to miss the series opener as he landed in South Africa later than Mitchell Starc did. That is according to a Cricinfo report that suggests Starc could play the first and third matches of the series as Australia manage workloads ahead of the Tests.
Josh Hazlewood, who played one ODI in Zimbabwe, may get another run in the opening ODI to build rythym ahead of the Test series.
Nathan Ellis is all but set to feature and is fast-becoming crucial to Australia’s ODI lineup. He was outstanding in Zimbabwe and unlucky not to win the player of the series award.
“I think he’s [Ellis] grown into himself as a confident ODI bowler over the last few years, and it’s great to see him get that reward in the series,” Starc said on Tuesday.
“He probably led the attack in the absence of Josh playing one game, Pat and I not over there, so really pushing his case as a lock as a pick in the one-day team, and no doubt he’ll look to perform in these three as well.”
Australia ODI squad: Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Marsh, Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Joel Davies, Jack Edwards, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Oliver Peake, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa
