Josh Hazlewood Out of Australia's T20I Series Against Scotland, Riley Meredith to Fill In

New Delhi: Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood has unfortunately been ruled out of Australia’s upcoming T20I series against Scotland, as he sustained a calf strain during training last week. In his absence, fellow speedster Riley Meredith has been called up to the squad as a replacement. This marks Meredith's comeback after a three-year absence from the national team. Hazlewood's injury adds to Australia's bowling troubles, as left-arm pacer Spencer Johnson was also recently ruled out of the entire tour of Scotland and England due to an injury he picked up while playing for The Oval Invincibles in The Hundred. Australia will now have to rely on their remaining bowlers to step up in their absence and perform well in the upcoming series.

The 33-year-old Hazlewood suffered a minor injury and is expected to be available for Australia’s white-ball tour of England, which will start from September 11. However, keeping the crucial Border-Gavaskar Trophy in mind, rotation among the pacers is expected.

Meredith last represented Australia in 2021 against the West Indies at Gros Islet. During the English season, he was involved with Somerset in white-ball cricket. In the T20 Blast, Meredith clinched 14 wickets and in three one-day cup games, the speedster bagged six wickets. Overall, in T20Is, Meredith has eight wickets to his name in five matches after playing against West Indies and New Zealand three years ago.

Initially, Hazlewood was the sole pacer out of the three mainstays to feature in the T20I series against Scotland. Pat Cummins is missing the entire tour, while Mitchell Starc has been named in the squad for the ODI series against England.

“The priority at the moment is to smash out some gym work and start reassessing in a few weeks a path forward. I’m just trying to fill up the bucket again after two years of non-stop bowling. Hoping come to that first Test against India in as good of a position as I have been in for a few years,” Cummins said earlier.

Australia have a completely revamped pace bowling attack, which will now feature Meredith, Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott and Nathan Ellis. The designated pacers will be backed by all-rounders Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Stoinis and potentially captain Mitchell Marsh.

Experienced spinner Adam Zampa and uncapped youngster Cooper Connolly will make up Australia’s spin department. The first T20I of the three-match series will be played on 4th September in Edinburgh.

Australia’s updated squad for Scotland T20Is

Mitchell Marsh (C), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (Wk), Riley Meredith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa