Melbourne [Australia], February 22 (ANI): With the cancellation of the Test series against South Africa, Australian pacer Pat Cummins and wicket-keeper batsman Alex Carey will return to Sheffield Shield cricket to play their first match of the season after being included in the New South Wales and South Australia squads respectively.
Cummins comes into the squad in place of fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who has been rested. The Australia pace spearhead Cummins had captained New South Wales in the Marsh Cup last week.
New South Wales coach Phil Jacques said that change was necessary to manage the defending champions’ pace battery.
“We mapped out a plan for Josh and with quick games back to back we have given him this game off but he will play our third game in this stretch of matches,” cricket.com.au quoted Jacques as saying.
“It’s a busy season and we have to manage all of our players, especially the quick bowlers so we have them all firing towards the back end of the season,” he added.
Earlier this month, Cricket New South Wales named Cummins as the captain for the Marsh One Day Cup.
“Pat is a highly respected person throughout Australian cricket, and he knows the values NSW cricket and the Blues hold dearly,” coach Jacques had said.
“We have no doubt he’ll prove to be a fantastic leader and I know he will also be a great role model for all Blues players. Captaining NSW in these matches is a really good opportunity for Pat to not only demonstrate how good a leader he is, but it’s a chance to show he also has the tactical nous to be a really good captain,” he had added. (ANI)