Australian spinner Ashton Agar has been ruled out of the upcoming second Test against Sri Lanka after failing to recover from a side strain. Notably, Agar was injured in Australia’s opening ODI three weeks ago.
Agar’s absence means Mitchell Swepson will keep his spot when the second Test starts on Friday. Swepson had claimed three wickets in the first innings of the opening Test and two in the second as the tourists went on to register a 10-wicket win.
Jon Holland, who is also carrying an injury, has been added to the squad as a replacement for Agar. Notably, Holland, who made his Test debut against the same opposition in 2016, suffered a finger injury ahead of second Australia A four-day match against Sri Lanka A.
“I was really happy with Swepo. A couple of key breakthroughs in the first innings and then [on Friday], top order wickets,” said captain Pat Cummins as quoted by Cricket.com.au.
“Really valuable. He controlled the tempo of the game, he had some batters come really hard at him. I thought he bowled beautifully,” he added.
Australia squad (updated): Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Jon Holland, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner. Standby players: Matthew Kuhnemann, Todd Murphy
