Michael Clarke has been christened the captain of the Australian side for the
tour of Bangladesh after Ricky Ponting decided to step down from the position.
Clarke will take over the role of the leader of both, the ODIs and the Test matches.
On this particular tour of Bangladesh, Australia Australia play three ODIs.
Cameron White will continue to remain as the captain of the T20 side whereas
the vice-captaincy role will go to Shane Watson.
Clarke has been the vice-captain of the side for some time now and has often led
the Australian side when Ponting has been unavailable. Clarke was the skipper
of the side which beat England 6-1 in the ODIs leading up to the World Cup and
has often been the stand-in captain.
Clarke spoke to the media and said that he was happy to lead the side and that
he was humbled by the feeling of leading Australia. He also added that he was
surprised that Ponting had quit after the Cricket World Cup.
Amongst the other players announced for the tour of Bangladesh, there is no
place for Jason Krejza after he was their leading spinner for the World Cup.
Krejza has been replaced by Xavier Doherty, who was earlier selected in the
ODIs against Sri Lanka at home.
James Pattinson has also come into the side after Shaun Tait announced his retirement
from the ODIs, while David Hussey has taken a break from this tour.
The chief selector Andrew Hilditch has said that Watson has been ear-marked as
the next leader in the making and hence was asked to deputise for his side.
Team for Bangladesh:
Michael Clarke (captain), Shane Watson (vice-captain), Brad Haddin (wk), Ricky
Ponting, Cameron White, Mike Hussey, Callum Ferguson, Tim Paine (wk), Steve Smith,
Mitchell Johnson, John Hastings, Brett Lee, Xavier Doherty, James Pattinson.
Bangladesh have also named their squad for the series against Australia. There
have not been too many changes to the side but Mohammad Ashraful has bitten the
dust once again, while Alok Kapali comes back into the reckoning in his place.
Interestingly, there will also be the return of Mashrafe Mortaza in the squad
after he missed the World Cup due to injury but Shakib al Hasan will continue
to captain the side. Tamim Iqbal will be his vice-captain.
The other players to be shown the door are Junaid Siddique, Naeem Islam and Nazmul
Hossain while Shuvagoto Hom is an uncapped player selected in the team.
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