Australia have had to deal with a barrage of personnel changes within their ODI camp right on the eve of the ICC Champions Trophy, as a host of injuries and uncited personal reasons have seen some of their most seasoned campaigners — captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood prime amongst them — drop out of the squad, to be replaced by younger but inexperienced youngsters in Pakistan.
One of the more surprising decisions, therefore, is the retirement of Marcus Stoinis, who announced his retirement from the ODI format despite having been named in Australia’s squad for the Champions Trophy. With Australia now having to scratch together a squad to compete, Stoinis came in for criticism from his former captain Aaron Finch for this call.
“When you’ve had the faith put in you by the selection, the coach and the captain – maybe a little bit more of a heads up?” said Finch on the Around The Wicket podcast for ESPN Australia.
“Saying, ‘You know, this is what I am thinking.’ I would be surprised if it was an off the cuff decision as well, I am sure there would have been planning down the track, there would have been conversations between (coach) Andrew McDonald and Marcus Stoinis to try to get to the decision,” said Finch regarding the matter.
Hard-hitting all-rounder Aaron Hardie was named as Stoinis’ replacement, and comes in alongside pacers Spencer Johnson, Sean Abbott, and Ben Dwarshuis, as well as batter Jake Fraser-McGurk and spinner Tanveer Sangha, while Cooper Connolly was named travelling reserve following his Test debut in Galle.
Finch predicts ‘T20 route’ for Stoinis
Finch also pointed out that Stoinis was possibly making this decision as he priorities T20 cricket in franchise tournaments over representing Australia in ODIs. “At the end of the day, each player has the opportunity to decide what their fate is going forward. For me, if you look at Marcus Stoinis for the last couple of years, he’s preferred to play the T20 route,” explained Finch.
“Being in Pakistan, then straight to India after a summer of cricket at home, that can potentially be four-five months on the road, so maybe that contributed to the decision,” concluded Finch.
Steven Smith is set to captain Australia in the tournament, having stepped in for Cummins in the Sri Lanka Test series. Australia are due two preparatory ODI matches in Sri Lanka, having lost the first by 49 runs in Colombo, before beginning their Champions Trophy campaign with a rivalry match against England.
