Ashes 2019: Australia to have new captain in tour match against Derbyshire
England vs Australia: The visitors have decided to rest senior players for the game to keep them fresh for the final two Ashes Tests.
Top-order batsman Usman Khawaja will lead the Australian team in their upcoming tour match against Derbyshire starting Thursday. The five-match Ashes series is locked at 1-1 and Australia are scheduled to play a three-day practice match before the final two Tests at Old Trafford and Oval respectively. The visitors have decided to rest senior players for the game to keep them fresh for the final two Tests.
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The seven players who have been rested for the tour game are skipper Tim Paine, David Warner, Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson and Nathan Lyon. With seven players being rested out of the 17-member squad, the visitors were a man short for this game and hence they have opted to bring in Alex Carey to take up wicket-keeping duties.
Carey was playing for his county side Sussex before he was included for this tour game. The wicket-keeper-batsman will rejoin Sussex after the end of the tour game as he hasn’t been officially named in the Australian Ashes squad.
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The blockbuster five-match series in level currently with three matches done and dusted. Australia won the first match by 251 runs at Edgbaston while the second one was drawn at the iconic Lord’s. Ben Stokes then did the unthinkable at Headingley to throw the series wide open.
England started the fourth day looking to prevent Australia from retaining the Ashes. They got to 286/9, still needing 73 runs for an improbable victory. But World Cup hero Stokes joined hands with number 11 batsman Jack Leach and did the unthinkable by smashing eight sixes to all corners of the ground and helped England get to touching distance of their highest-ever second-innings total to win a Test match.
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Australia XI to face Derbyshire: Usman Khawaja (c), Cameron Bancroft, Alex Carey (wk), Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, Matthew Wade