Bailey said that Australia are expecting Cummins, Hazlewood and David to be back to full fitness in time for the 2026 T20 World Cup. (Express Photo by Nirmal Hareendran)
The recovering trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Tim David all feature in Australia’s provisional squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup that was announced on Thursday. With the tournament taking place in India and Sri Lanka, and Australia playing all their group stage matches in the latter nation, they have gone spin heavy, with Adam Zampa being joined by Matthew Kuhnemann, Cooper Connolly and all-rounders Glenn Maxwell and Matthew Short.
Chairman of selectors George Bailey said that the injured players are recovering well and will be fit in time for the World Cup. “The T20 side has enjoyed a long run of recent success which enabled the panel to choose a balance of players across the variety of conditions Sri Lanka and India may present,” Bailey said.
“Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Tim David are tracking well and we are confident they will be available for the World Cup. This is a preliminary squad so should changes need to be made they will ahead of the support period.”
Even though Mitchell Starc has retired from the format and Spencer Johnson being ruled out with injury, Australia haven’t decided to go for a left-arm pacer. Instead, they have included Xavier Bartlett in the squad.
Australia will be facing Pakistan in a three-match T20I series before the tournament but are yet to name a squad for that. They are placed in Group B along with co-hosts Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Oman. Australia start their tournament by facing Ireland on February 11 and then face Zimbabwe on February 13, both matches in Colombo. They then move to Kandy where they face Sri Lanka on February 16 and Oman on February 20.
Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
Curated by Aisha Patel
