Cricket | Paine to lead Australia squad to England

Tim Paine has been picked to lead Australia’s squad for next month’s limited-overs series in England, adding to the ODI job to the test captaincy he was rushed into after Steve Smith and David Warner were suspended during the controversial recent tour to South Africa.

Cricket Australia announced the 15-player squad yesterday for the five-game series, which starts June 13 at The Oval in London and is part of Australia’s preparations for an attempted World Cup title defense in England in 2019.

Aaron Finch is vice-captain of the team that will be missing a core group of experienced players.

“Tim is a strong leader and will captain the side for this series, supported by Aaron,” national selector Trevor Hohns said. “A decision on a permanent one-day captain will be made in due course.”

As well as Smith and Warner, who have been banned for 12 months following a ball-tampering scandal during the third test in South Africa in March, the Australian squad will be missing frontline pacemen Mitch Starc and Pat Cummins because of injuries.

Veteran spinner Nathan Lyon has earned a recall to the ODI lineup for the first time since 2015.

“Nathan is our No. 1 off-spinner and has excelled with the red ball, however, he is not new to white ball cricket and deserves his chance to push for World Cup selection,” Hohns said. “England potentially have a number of left-handers in their side and we look forward to seeing what he can produce with the white ball in English conditions.”

Starc (foot) and Cummins (back) are undergoing treatment and are expected to return for Australia’s subsequent test series against Pakistan.

Australia squad: Tim Paine (captain), Aaron Finch, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye. AP