Steve Smith Named Captain For Sri Lanka Series

Steve Smith has been appointed as the captain of the Australian Test team for their 2-match tour of Sri Lanka starting later in the month. Pat Cummins misses out due to personal reasons along with it he is also nursing an ankle issue which was 'managed through the summer' as stated by Cricket Australia. Josh Hazlewood, who suffered an injury during the Border Gavaskar trophy against India continues to remain on the sidelines. Mitchell Marsh who was released ahead of the Sydney Test has been dropped from the squad.

The squad has three frontline seam bowlers Mitchell Starc, & Scott Boland & Sean Abbott. Matt Kuhnemann & Todd Murphy have been picked into the squad to bolster the spin bowling attack of the Kangaroos including the experienced pro Nathan Lyon

Although he was out of favor by the end of the India series, batter Nathan McSweeney too finds a spot in the 16-man squad named for the two-Test series which will be played in Galle. Cooper Connolly, the left-handed batter who also bowls some orthodox spin has earned a maiden call-up.

George Bailey on Australian Squad

"Sri Lanka is an exciting tour for us every time we visit there, we have made this squad depending on the conditions that we get there in the 2 matches, it's an exciting squad as there are many people in that group who have just started their test careers, it'll be an ideal opportunity to test their skills in the sub-continent as we have plenty of sub-continent tours lined up in coming years, " chief selector George Bailey was quoted as saying.

Australia have already qualified for the World Test Championship final to be held in June, and this will be their last Test assignment before that. Australia will face South Africa in the WTC final at Lord's in June this year.

SQUAD: Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Nathan McSweeney, Beau Webster, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Cooper Connolly, Todd Murphy, Matt Kuhneman, Sean Abbott, Scott Boland