April 20 (CRICKETNMORE) - Cricket Australia has announced 15-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 on Thursday (April 20). Steve Smith will lead the team. Australia is slotted in Group A with England, Bangladesh and New Zealand. It begins its campaign against New Zealand in Birmingham on June 2.
The injured Mitchell Starc and Chris Lynn were named in the squad but allrounder James Faulkner couldn't find a place. The pace attack lloks strong with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, James Pattinson and Josh Hazlewood. Adam Zampa, the legspinner, was the only specialist tweaker in the squad. Aaron Finch,was given the chance ahead of Usman Khawaja and George Bailey, who both missed the cut.
Speaking on the make-up of the squad, Trevor Hohns, the chief selector, said: “We have selected a very exciting well balanced squad that will give us plenty of options with both batting and bowling, depending on the conditions. We are in a very fortunate position at the moment with a large number of quality players available for selection, as such this was a very difficult team to choose and there have been some unlucky players on this occasion.”
Australia Squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2017
Squad: Steve Smith (capt), David Warner (vice-capt), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Adam Zampa.
Sahir