Australia have responded to their mounting fast-bowling injury list by adding Mahli Beardman, the 19-year-old Western Australia seamer, to their ODI squad for the five-match series against England, which gets underway at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
Beardman, 19 years old and 6ft 2in, was a standout performer in the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, in particular with his Player-of-the-Match winning figures of 3 for 15 in Australia’s victory over India in the final in Benoni.
Though he has played just one List A match in his career to date, he was picked up in August by Perth Scorchers for this year’s Big Bash League, and is one of a crop of young fast bowlers in Australia’s set-up whom the selectors have been monitoring closely, alongside Callum Vidler, Charlie Anderson and Tom Straker.
His call-up comes amid a slew of injuries among Australia’s fast bowlers. Xavier Bartlett sustained a side strain during the first T20I against England, while Nathan Ellis was pulled from the Scotland leg of the tour after aggravating an injury sustained in the Hundred.
Spencer Johnson was ruled out before the tour began, while Riley Meredith did not play after first T20I in Scotland, with both men sustaining side issues.
Josh Hazlewood had been a doubt for the T20I series after a late arrival in the UK following a minor calf strain, but played a major part in Australia’s victory in Southampton before being rested for the second match in Cardiff.
Speaking to SEN last week, Andrew McDonald, Australia’s head coach, said that his team would be closely monitoring the fitness of his “big three” bowlers – Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, ahead of a five-Test home series against India later this year.
“A lot of our priorities will be geared around that,” Andrew McDonald, Australia’s coach, told SEN last week. “You’ll see that unfold with the management of our players. We’ll be very pointed around who does what in terms of [Sheffield] Shield cricket coming into the summer to make sure that they are ready for that first Test match.”
Beardman and Cooper Connolly, who had been a part of the T20I squad, have been on the Australian bench in Perth in the past two summers as part of Cricket Australia’s Under-19 induction program.
Connolly will remain in the UK with the ODI squad, as will Ben Dwarshuis who has been added as cover for the remainder of the tour.
Australia’s squad for the ODIs will also be boosted by the arrival of Starc, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell.
Australia ODI squad vs England
Mitchell Marsh (capt), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey (wk), Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis (wk), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa | Traveling reserve: Mahli Beardman
