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Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting expressed his disappointment after the top scorer of this BBL season, Marcus Stoinis, failed to make the cut into the ODI and T20I squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa.
The selectors gave the nod to Mitchell Marsh ahead of Stoinis. Ponting suggested that the Melbourne star was unfortunate in missing out on the flight to South Africa, despite piling 612 runs in 15 games of the ongoing BBL.
Scoring at an average above 55, Stoinis headlined the BBL season with his explosive knock of 147* against the Sydney Sixers earlier in January.
“He’s unlucky on the back of being in sensational form, Stoinis, but all he can do is keep scoring runs and keep throwing his name up there for selection,” Ricky Ponting told cricket.com.au.
Also, Cricket Australia indicated their strength and depth in their squad as BBL’s stand out batsman for the last three seasons, D’Arcy Short, could not get into the squad.
“It is harsh on Stoinis but he has just got to keep performing, I just don’t think there was room for both Stoinis and Mitch Marsh in those squads and they’ve decided to go with Marsh,” further stated the world cup winning Australian captain.
Jhye Richardson breaks into the T20I squad while giving way for Josh Hazlewood in the ODIs. The rest of the squad is similar, with Sean Abbott swapping out for Marnus Labushagne in the ODIs.
“Continuity in the T20 team is really important and I don’t think there will be too many changes to that squad picked today ahead of the T20 World Cup,” concluded the 45-year old.
Australia T20I squad:
Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
Australia ODI squad:
Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steve Smith, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.
