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Ahead of Australia’s tour to South Africa, Cricket Australia released a preliminary squad for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India. The announced roster of players had the usual suspects like Pat Cummins (captain), Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, etc with young players like Cameron Green, Tanveer Sangha and Aaron Hardie. But the squad did have some massive exclusions, which stirred up experts and fans alike.
Also Read: Australia announce 18-member squad for ODI World Cup 2023
The Australian team will start its World Cup campaign against the hosts India in Chennai on October 8 before travelling to Lucknow to face South Africa. After another match up at the Ekana Stadium against Sri Lanka, Aussies take on Pakistan in Bengaluru. Making another south to north journey, Australia faces the Netherlands in Delhi and New Zealand in Dharamsala on October 28. Then rounding off the World Cup league stage Australia has matches on November 4, 7 and 12 against England, Afghanistan and Bangladesh respectively.
Battling through this hectic and high-pressure schedule, Cricket Australia put forth an interesting 18-man squad which will be further trimmed from 18 to 15 on September 28. The squad includes Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
In the 18-man group there are some glaring omissions and hence SportsTiger, through this list, details out some of the biggest stars who missed a place in Australia's ODI World Cup squad.
1. Marnus Labuschagne
“It is form based,” the Chair of Selectors for Australia, George Bailey succinctly explained why Marnus Labuschagne has been left out of the 18-man Australian squad for the World Cup. Touted to be Australia’s next batting star, Labuschagne hasn’t lived up to the start he had by rapidly becoming the number Test batter in the world.
Also Read: Marnus Labuschagne hit back at fan for calling Australia "boring"
In ODIs, since March 2022, he has averaged 24.93 at a strike-rate of 74.94 from 17 matches. With a promising yet average Ashes 2023, Labuschagne’s selection seemed to be in murky waters with his sub-par performances.
