Australia announce Test and T20I squad for South Africa, New Zealand series and there are many surprises

The Australian cricket team has announced the squads for the New Zealand Twenty20 International series and for the three-Test tour to South Africa. Australia will play five Twenty20 Internationals in New Zealand while the three-Test series will be the final assignment for the Aussies in the ICC World Test Championship cycle. Recently, Australia suffered a 1-2 series loss to India for the second consecutive time and this hurt their chances of entering the final of the ICC World Test Championship in Lord's in June 2021. The outcome of the series loss against India has seen some changes in the Test side.

Out goes Matthew Wade, who averaged just 21 in the four-Test series against India and was heavily criticised for his shot selection. Matthew Wade failed to hit a single fifty in the entire series and threw his wicket away at crucial times. Alex Carey, who smashed the first hundred of the Big Bash League, has been included in the Test side. Matthew Wade will head to the Twenty20 International series against New Zealand in a squad that includes five uncapped players. 

The Australian selectors have been closely monitoring the Big Bash League and they have rewarded caps to Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith and Tanveer Sangha. Jhye Richardson, who last played a T20I in February 2019, has impressed in the Big Bash with 27 wickets in 14 matches for Perth Scorchers makes a comeback. The selectors have also included 19-year-old Tanveer Sangha after his impressive performance with Sydney Thunder, where he has 21 wickets from 14 games. Sydney Thunder has qualified for the playoffs of the Big Bash League.

Test squad similar to India

The Test squad has only a couple of changes from the side that lost to India, with the inclusion of Alex Carey as well as the return of Travis Head. Mark Steketee is one of the bowlers in the line-up as the rest of the squad remains the same. Australia will be touring South Africa and New Zealand at the same time, with Justin Langer coaching the Australia Test team while assistant Andrew McDonald will coach the side in New Zealand. 

The tour to South Africa is still subject to clearance on the bio-bubble protocol in South Africa, with the previous series against England postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic after several lapses in the bio-bubble. Australia has not won a series against South Africa since 2014 and has lost five out of seven Tests. In the last series in 2018, Australia cricket hit rock-bottom as Steve Smith and David Warner, along with Cameron Bancroft received bans for ball-tampering in Cape Town.

Australia T20I squad - Aaron Finch (c), Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D'Archy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

Australia Test squad - Tim Paine (c), Pat Cummins, Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Moises Henriques, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.