Australia have proven time and again that they are always a force to reckon with in any big cricket tournament, regardless of the form or events leading up to it. Considering even this, it has to be said that they go into this Champions Trophy in some strife. Their preparation for the tournament has been a two-match ODI series in Sri Lanka which they lost quite comprehensively. Additionally, in the leadup to this series and the Champions Trophy itself, Australia lost five huge names due to varying reasons.
Pat Cummins, the captain extraordinaire who led Australia to all their big titles recently, including the 2023 World Cup, is out due to injury, as are Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh. Cummins’ fellow pace spearhead Mitchell Starc has pulled out due to personal reasons, while big-hitting all-rounder Marcus Stoinis announced a shock retirement from ODIs on February 5.
It means that Australia have a rather lopsided side, on paper at least, going into the Champions Trophy consisting of very experienced batters and some pretty inexperienced bowlers. Steve Smith was captain of the side in the last Champions Trophy and somehow, despite all that has happened in the intervening years, he will be leading them again this year.
Along with him in the batting department is the red-hot Travis Head and Glenn Maxwell. There is the curious case of Marnus Labuschagne, who hasn’t scored over 50 runs in an innings in his last seven ODI matches and was even left out of the squad for the second game against Sri Lanka, although Smith said that the decision was not down to the batter’s form.
Josh Inglish is expected to find a place in the middle order while Matthew Short should open with Head, although he only scored a duck and a two in the two matches against Sri Lanka. The promising but as of yet relatively untested Jake Fraser-McGurk could also find a place at some point in the top order and it will be pretty exciting to see how he fares in a format slightly longer than T20s.
The experienced Adam Zampa is expected to be the leading figure in Australia’s depleted bowling attack. Among the pacers replacing the missing stalwarts are Nathan Ellis and Spencer Johnson. Aaron Hardie will the pace-bowling all-rounder in the mould of Marsh and Stoinis and there is also the relatively experienced Sean Abott. The fact remains, though, that Australia’s bowling department is severely depleted of the proven names present in their batting lineup.
Recent form
This new Australian ODI squad had its test run in Sri Lanka and the results were not too encouraging. They lost the first match by 49 runs, being dismissed for 165 while chasing 215. Australia then crashed to a 174-run defeat in the second ODI, being dismissed for just 107 runs while chasing 282. Worryingly for them, it is their experienced batting lineup that failed far more than anything else in both matches.
Australia’s best XI: Travis Head, Matt Short, Steven Smith (C), Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (WK), Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Hardie, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson
Australia full squad for Champions Trophy 2025: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly.
