Melbourne [Australia], January 27 (ANI): Australia’s national selector Trevor Hohns on Wednesday said that Will Pucovski can also bat in the middle-order if the situation arises in the longest format of the game.
Hohns’ remark came as Australia announced the squads for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand and the Test series against South Africa. For the Tests, Matthew Wade has been left out after the batsman was not able to impress in the recently-concluded series against India.
“As far as his batting position goes – yes, nothing is ruled out there. There’s no doubt that we know Will can bat in the middle-order as well at the top of the order, so that could well be a viable option for us,” cricket.com.au quoted Hohns as saying.
“Will’s recovery (from injury) is progressing. He has had his shoulder looked at by medical people and at the moment, they don’t feel it necessary for him to have an operation. So we’re very hopeful that he will recover in time to take his place in that touring party for South Africa,” he added.
Pucovski had made his Test debut against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground and he even went on to register a half-century in the first innings.
He then suffered a shoulder subluxation injury in the Sydney Test and as a result, he was left out from the fourth Test against India.
Matthew Wade will instead tour New Zealand for the T20I series as Australia will lock horns both with the Kiwis and South Africa in February and March. The Australian T20I squad will be captained by Aaron Finch and coached by Andrew McDonald.
T20I squad: Aaron Finch (capt), Matthew Wade (vc), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa
Test squad: Tim Paine (capt), Pat Cummins (vc), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner. (ANI)
