 Australia will go into the 2011 edition of the World Cup without the presence of Michael Hussey and Nathan Hauritz, both of whom were dropped from the side because of their injury issues. Both suffered from injuries during the recently finished ODI series against England and have not yet recovered sufficiently for the selectors to have confidence to select them in the side.
The World Cup will start from February 19 while Australia feature in their
first game on February 21 against Zimbabwe. However, even with the almost two
weeks to go before the side plays it first game, the selectors have deemed that
a fully fit side was needed from the very first day of the tournament.
Earlier, Hussey had said that while he was on the road to a recovery, he may
have to miss the side's first couple of games in the tournament. Hussey's problem
was his foot injury that he suffered from while batting in the first ODI of
the England series and he was replaced by Shaun Marsh. Marsh himself was injured
and then replaced by Callum Ferguson in the line-up. Ferguson will now replace
Hussey in the World Cup squad as well.
Apart from that, Hauritz was called upon after being left out in Ashes. However,
in his very first game of the series, he suffered from a shoulder dislocation
and missed the rest of the series. while it was said that Hauritz would be able
to recover from the injury soon enough, the Aussie selectors preferred to not
take any chances and have now gone in with another Tasmanian off-spinner, Jason
Krejza.
Krejza had played his first ever Test match in India in 2008 and scalped a
haul of 12 wickets. It was then a surprise that he was dropped from the side
after only one more match where he was carte around by the South African side.
The good news for Australia was that captain Ricky Ponting, who had
missed the last Ashes Test and the ODI series as well due to a broken finger
will be fit to play in the series. Brad Haddin will also play in the
World Cup despite a back spasm while Steven Smith has recovered from his back
issue.
Australia Squad for World Cup 2011:
Ricky Ponting (c), Michael Clarke (vc), Brad Haddin (wk), Shane Watson, Callum
Ferguson, David Hussey, Cameron White, Steven Smith, Tim Paine, John
Hastings, Jason Krejza, Mitchell Johnson, Doug Bollinger, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait.
|
