Jack Edwards will pull on an Australia shirt for the first time on Saturday, the New South Wales all-rounder having been added to the one-day squad for the dead-rubber against India in Sydney. Cricket Australia confirmed the late inclusion on Friday while sketching out a wider reshuffle to both white-ball sides.
Key ins and outs
• Edwards joins the ODI group, replacing Marnus Labuschagne, who has been released to play Sheffield Shield cricket for Queensland next week.
• Glenn Maxwell (fractured wrist) and Ben Dwarshuis (calf) have shaken off injury and are available for the fourth and fifth T20Is in Queensland.
• Twenty-year-old quick Mahli Beardman earns a surprise call-up for the last three T20Is.
• Josh Hazlewood and Sean Abbott will step away from the T20 leg after matches two and three respectively, allowing them to turn out for New South Wales in Shield round four.
Selectors have juggled workloads with the domestic season and a Test summer in mind. Hazlewood will play only the opening two T20Is in Perth and Adelaide; Abbott – still nursing split webbing in his right hand – departs after the Hobart fixture.
Edwards rewarded for A-tour form
The 24-year-old Edwards has been on the national radar since his teenage seasons at the SCG, but a strong Australia A trip to India finally forced the selectors’ hand. In Lucknow he compiled an assured 88 in the second four-day game before switching formats in Kanpur, where he claimed 4 for 56 and blasted 89 off 75 balls. Those performances, allied to his tidy new-ball work for NSW this spring, were enough to convince George Bailey and the panel that he is ready for a look at international level.
Maxwell cleared, Inglis still in doubt
Maxwell fractured his left wrist while bowling in the nets in New Zealand last month, ruling him out of the ODIs and the opening two T20Is. Medical staff are now satisfied with his range of motion. “He’s ticked every box this week and is keen to get back out there,” team physio Nick Jones said.
Josh Inglis, meanwhile, is still easing back from a calf strain and remains a day-to-day proposition. Western Australia keeper-bat Josh Philippe has therefore been added to the T20 squad as cover.
Beardman fast-tracked
Beardman’s elevation raised a few eyebrows outside Western Australia. The tall right-armer has played just four domestic one-dayers and two BBL matches to date, but figures of 12 wickets at 17.75 in the Marsh Cup – plus a lively 3 for 17 for Perth Scorchers last January – hint at genuine pace and accuracy. He missed the winter with stress fractures yet has hit the ground running since the start of October.
Possible experimentation in Sydney
With the series already decided, Australia may use Saturday’s ODI to trial a longer batting order and a seam-heavy attack. An XI featuring Edwards could afford Pat Cummins the option of resting one of Hazlewood or Mitchell Starc before the Tests against India later in the summer.
Squads in brief
ODI v India (Sydney, 25 Oct)
Pat Cummins (c), Travis Head, Steven Smith, David Warner, Alex Carey (wk), Mitch Marsh, Cameron Green, Matthew Kuhnemann, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Jack Edwards.
T20I squad v India
Matthew Wade (c, wk), Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Glenn Maxwell (from 3rd T20I), Josh Inglis (fitness pending), Josh Philippe (from 1st T20I as cover), Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood (first two matches), Sean Abbott (first three), Ben Dwarshuis (last two), Spencer Johnson, Mahli Beardman (last three), Adam Zampa.
What it means
Nothing is won or lost in October, but the selectors are clearly keeping an eye on the broader calendar. Labuschagne heads to Brisbane in search of Shield runs, bowlers slice up their workloads, and a handful of fringe players get a crack at India. Short-term disruption, perhaps, yet with World Test Championship points and a T20 World Cup on the horizon, the balancing act is understandable.
Saturday’s ODI, the final international of the SCG’s spring block, starts at 2.20pm local time.
