Josh Hazlewood ruled out from WTC Final 2023
Michael Neser has been named as Hazlewood's replacement for WTC final which will be played from June 7 at Oval.
Crickate
Australia has made a late change to their 15-man squad for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against India, which will take place from June 7 to 12 at The Oval in London. Due to a persistent Achilles and side condition, veteran seamer Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the crucial Test.
A 32-year-old player was incapacitated due to an injury. After playing a few games for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 16th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, he departed India early. He was included in Australia's roster and immediately began preparations for the one-off Test. However, Australia has decided not to take any risks with the right-handed batsman ahead of the major tournament.
Hazlewood is anticipated to be available for selection in the summer's first Ashes Test in Birmingham. The Ashes match between Australia and England in 2023 will commence on June 16 and end on July 31.
Michael Neser, an in-form all-rounder, has been added to the Australian squad and could challenge Scott Boland for a spot in their starting XI. Recently, the 33-year-old has been in outstanding form for Glamorgan in the County Championship, taking 19 wickets in five matches and scoring a century in a recent match against Sussex.
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The right-arm bowler has only appeared in two Tests thus far in his career, but he could make the final XI and bowl alongside Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in the championship match. Boland has appeared in seven Tests for Australia, accumulating 28 wickets at an impressive 13.42 average. The most recent Test he participated in was Australia's 2-1 loss to India in the opening Border-Gavaskar Trophy match in Nagpur in February 2023.
Updated squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
