Australia Become 1st Team To Announce Preliminary Squad For ODI World Cup 2023, Pat Cummins To Lead, Marnus Labuschagne Dropped, THIS India-Origin Cricketer Called Up

Australia have announced a preliminary 18-man squad for ICC men's ODI World Cup 2023 which will be trimmed to 15.

Australian captain Pat Cummins. (Source: Twitter)

Australia have become the first team to announce their preliminary squad for the upcoming ICC men’s ODI World Cup 2023 which gets underway in India in October. Top Test batter Marnus Labuschagne has failed to make the cut in a side which includes uncapped India-origin leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha and Western Australian all-rounder Aaron Hardie.

Cricket Australia named an extended 18-man squad for the ODI World Cup 2023 that will later be trimmed to 15, with a five-match series in South Africa in September the first assignment. Selectors also named a new-look T20 squad with a strong Big Bash League (BBL) flavour for three matches in South Africa before the ODI World Cup 2023 build-up begins, with big names rested from the shortest format ahead of a gruelling one-day campaign.

Labuschagne is the most notable omission from the 50-over squad having played 30 of Australia’s 38 matches since his debut in January 2020, with an average of 31.37.

Presenting your 18-player squad for the 2023 ODI World Cup, as well as two lead-in series against South Africa and India! ___ pic.twitter.com/h6jVWYJvMy — Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) August 7, 2023

Pat Cummins was revealed to have a fractured wrist that will keep him sidelined for six weeks but will join the ODI squad in South Africa in preparation for a return to playing in India, where Australia have a three-game series in late September ahead of the World Cup. Mitchell Starc is also recuperating from a shoulder injury picked up in the Ashes but has been cleared for the South Africa ODIs.

Cummins – Australia's ODI captain – has “an undisplaced fracture of his left radius which requires six weeks rehabilitation,” said Australia’s selection chairman George Bailey. “We view a period of enforced rest for Pat as a positive ahead of this important World Cup campaign. There are still a number of games he could play before the World Cup which is more than enough for him to have a strong preparation.”

Selectors have not named a vice-captain for the ODI squad. Hazlewood skippered the team in one match against England last November, while Steve Smith took on the job for a three-match tour of India in March this year.

Sangha’s selection is a real surprise – the 21-year-old has not played any top-level cricket since a one-day domestic practice match in Coffs Harbour last September, after which he was diagnosed with a back stress fracture that sidelined him for the entire 2022-23 summer.

Glenn Maxwell will miss the ODI leg of the South Africa tour with the 34-year-old expecting the arrival of his first child, and will join the squad in India, where they are scheduled to play a three-match ODI series between September 22 and 27 with games in Mohali, Indore and Rajkot.

Squad: Pat Cummins (C), David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa and Travis Head