AUS vs ZIM: Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc return as Australia unveil their playing XI for first ODI

Australian captain Aaron Finch, on Saturday, revealed playing XI for the first ODI against Zimbabwe, scheduled to take place at Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville on Sunday (August 28).

Fast bowler Mitchell Starc has made his comeback to the ODI setup. He last played in the 50-over format way back in July 2021 against the West Indies. Further, former skipper Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis have also returned along with Adam Zampa, who missed the Sri Lanka tour due to the birth of his first child..

However, the likes of Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis and Matthew Kuhnemann have not been picked by the team management. Finch revealed the reason behind Labuschagne missing out by mentioning that the hosts have gone with a with a team comprising of all-rounders.

“The reasoning behind Marnus (missing out) is we’re just going with an allrounder-heavy side.Two quicks plus Zampa and Cameron Green as the fourth genuine bowler. And then using Marsh, Stoinis, Maxwell as our fifth bowler effectively,” said Finch while talking to reporters as quoted by cricket.com.au.

“It’s a way of lengthening our batting, and I think it’s important we keep trying to juggle the structure of the team around a bit over the next little while. We don’t want to get pigeonholed into playing in one particular structure of team,” he added.

Australia XI for first ODI against Zimbabwe:

Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steve Smith, Alex Carey (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

For latest cricket news & updates, visit CricketTimes.com.

from CricketTimes.com https://ift.tt/Gj9nrk2

August 27, 2022 at 05:47PM