The big news from Australia’s 15-man squad announcement wasn’t the selections of Aaron Finch and Peter Siddle – those were expected – but Glenn Maxwell not getting in, despite suggestions to the contrary.
When Maxwell was not included in the Australia A squad for the tour of India, the assumption was that he didn’t need to stand trial any more. But, with an average of 26.07 from seven Tests, it appears that Maxwell isn’t on the selectors’ radar for the long format any more, at the moment at least.
Mitchell Marsh is also in as the primary all-rounder, and might have to do a fair bit of bowling if Tim Paine’s side choose to field just two specialist pacers on the spin-friendly pitches of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The options there are Mitchell Starc, back from injury, Siddle, Jhye Richardson, Brendan Doggett, the first male aboriginal cricketer to get a chance at this level since Jason Gillespie, and Michael Neser.
The spin department has Nathan Lyon as the frontman, Ashton Agar, and 31-year-old left-arm spinner Jon Holland, who played two Tests in Sri Lanka in 2016 and was impressive on the recent ‘A’ tour to India.
