Australia’s unlikely cast reinforces weary T20 squad in India

New South Wales and Sydney Thunder offspinner Chris Green is on the verge of an unlikely Australia debut having been called up to the T20I squad in India.

Wicketkeeper-batters Josh Philippe and Ben McDermott are also joining the tour along with left-arm quick Ben Dwarshuis with a group of players leaving after Tuesday’s third match in Guwahati.

Sean Abbott, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Steven Smith and Adam Zampa will return home but Travis Head remains meaning he will be the only player to finish the tour who is also set to feature in the opening Test against Pakistan in Perth next month.

Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins was sympathetic to the demands placed on those players who had been on the road for a long time.

“It’s been a busy few months,” he said during an event at the SCG to present the World Cup trophy. “It’s still games for Australia and think it’s great these tours do provide opportunity for younger guys or guys who might not be in your first XI.

“Think they are still important tours where you’ll get a lot out of it but they’re humans, not robots, so putting everything into a World Cup then playing a couple of days later probably don’t begrudge them not being 100%.”

It’s understood that the selectors have been as least disruptive to the ongoing round of Sheffield Shield as possible with none of those called up to India likely to have featured for their states.

Green, 30, has largely made his name as a globe-trotting T20 cricketer although in the last 12 months has become a regular figure in New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield side. In the BBL he has taken 66 wickets at 29.56 and an economy rate of 7.14 for Thunder.

Philippe, the Western Australia wicketkeeper-batter, has long-been considered one of the most exciting prospects in Australian cricket and made his T20I against New Zealand in early 2021. He played a couple of impressive innings with 45 and 43 in his second and third games but did not pass 13 in his next seven knocks which included tours to West Indies and Bangladesh.

He has struggled badly in the Sheffield Shield this season, averaging just 9.50 in five matches, and it’s understood he was facing being dropped for the current game against Queensland, but his Marsh Cup form has held up reasonably well with 179 runs at 35.80. He also scored a century for Australia A against New Zealand A early in the season.

McDermott is the most experienced of those called up having played five ODIs and 23 T20Is, most recently against Pakistan in early 2022. Dwarshuis, who plays for Sydney Sixers in the BBL, has one T20I to his name having also faced Pakistan last year.

The T20I squad in India has been a mixture of first-choice names and fringe players. The multi-format quicks and allrounders had already been rested ahead of the home summer and David Warner was withdrawn after the World Cup final.

Australia trail 2-0 after defeats in Vizag and Thiruvananthapuram.