Travis Head has been drafted into Australia’s squad as a replacement for Aaron Finch for the three-match ODI series against England that follows the T20 World Cup.
Finch relinquished the captaincy of Australia’s 50-over side and retired from the format after helping his side to a series clean sweep of Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in September.
Pat Cummins has taken on the mantle as skipper and Australia have resisted the temptation to rest him – and fellow quicks Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – ahead of a busy summer schedule.
Australia will play nine Tests from the end of this month to March and their trio of fast bowlers featured in Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign, in which they crashed out at the Super 12s group stage.
Mitchell Starc was peculiarly absent for the hosts and defending champions’ final match against Afghanistan but is included for ODIs against England at Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne.
The first ODI at Adelaide is four days after the T20 World Cup final – which England have a chance of being in having reached the knockout stages, where they will play India on Thursday – on November 17.
The series concludes five days after that at the MCG, with the penultimate match at Sydney on November 19, with Australia announcing a full-strength 14-strong group for the assignment.
Head has not featured in the format since June but averages 37.69 from 48 ODIs and has batted in every position from one to seven in the order.
Australia chair of selectors George Bailey said: “Our focus is to continue to build a squad with an eye to next year’s World Cup under Pat as the new ODI captain, so it’s an important series.
“Travis Head returns in place of Aaron Finch having played well in Pakistan and Sri Lanka earlier in the year. He has demonstrated flexibility in the types of roles he can play in our ODI line-up.
“Our next opportunity in the ODI format will be in India next year which will allow us to experience similar conditions as for the World Cup in October.”
Australia squad for ODI series v England
P Cummins (captain), A Agar, A Carey, C Green, J Hazlewood, T Head, M Labuschagne, M Marsh, G Maxwell, S Smith, M Starc, M Stoinis, D Warner, A Zampa.
