Australia’s preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy have been rocked by a series of unfortunate events as Skipper Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been officially ruled out of the tournament due to injuries. "Unfortunately Pat, Josh and Mitch are managing some ongoing injuries and haven't come up in time for the Champions Trophy," said George Bailey, the chairman of the selection panel. "While disappointing, it does present a great opportunity for other players to perform for Australia in a world event."
Hazlewood is having a hip problem, having earlier suffered hip and calf strains. Meanwhile, the unavailability of Cummins, who is still recovering from an ankle injury he suffered during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, will mean Australia will have to name another captain for the Champions Trophy.Earlier, having mentioned that Cummins was heavily unlikely to feature in the Champions Trophy, head coach Andrew McDonald had said that Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two cricketers with whom the management has been having discussions of captaincy.
"Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two that we've been having conversations with while we've been building out that Champions Trophy team along with Pat back home. They'll be the two that we look at for that leadership post," McDonald said."They're the two obvious ones. Steve has done a great job here in the [first] Test match. He's done some good work in one-day international cricket across the journey as well. So it's between those two."Australia, who are in Group B, face England in their opening match of the Champions Trophy on February 22. Their next game is against South Africa on February 25 while their last group match is against Afghanistan on February 28. The semifinals are scheduled on March 4 and 5, with the final to be held on March 9.
