Mitchell Starc has withdrawn from the Australia squad for the Champions Trophy 2025 for personal reasons. Now this leaves Australia in the middle of a hurricane as their two prominent pacers, Josh Hazelwood and Pat Cummins, are already ruled out of the tournament because of the injuries.
CA (Cricket Australia) is in the middle of the mud right now. They have already made several changes to the provisional 15-member squad for the Champions Trophy in Pakistan after Hazelwood and Cummins’ injury and Stoinis’ shocking retirement. The ODI World Cup Champions are now left with a relatively inexperienced pace battery to compete in the upcoming ODI mega event in Pakistan.
The CA selection committee called the right-arm medium pacer Sean Abbott, left-arm pacer Ben Dwarshuis, and left-arm fast bowler Spencer Johnson to reinforce the Aussie pace bowling arsenal.
Destructive young opener Jake Fraser-McGurk and right-arm leg break bowler Tanveer Sangha also earned their place in the Australian squad for the Champions Trophy 2025. Cooper Connolly is also included in the team as a traveling reserve. In the absence of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith will lead the team.
Right now the Australian team is in Sri Lanka preparing for the upcoming tournament. Australia has to play two ODI matches in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, 12 February, and Friday, 14 February, before leaving for Pakistan. Australia will begin their third Champions Trophy title conquest on February 22 against England, followed by matches against South Africa (Feb 25) and Afghanistan (Feb 28).
Australia Champions Trophy 2025 Squad
Steve Smith (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey (wk), Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa
Traveling Reserve: Cooper Connolly
