Cricket Australia has named the T20 and One Day squad for the Australia tour of England and Australia A squad for a series against Sri Lanka A. Even though Micheal Clarke had a poor run in the T20 World Cup, CA has retained him as the T20 Captain.

Shaun Marsh makes an comeback to the One Day team after being ruled out of the New Zealand tour with injury. His younger brother, Mitchell Marsh too has been given a chance to play in the Australia A team.

But, Australian test squad has not yet been announced.

Australia team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris commented:

“Peter Siddle is recovering well from a lower back stress fracture sustained during the Australian summer. However it was felt that there was too big a risk for his to return for the tour of England and Ireland, particularly with the important 12 months coming up. Peter remains on target to return to the playing field at the start of the Australian domestic summer. Brett Lee is recovering from the elbow muscle injury that he picked before the ICC World Twenty20 and is yet to commence bowling.”

“Brett Lee is recovering from the elbow muscle injury that he picked before the ICC World Twenty20 and is yet to commence bowling.”

SQUADS

ODI squad Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Cameron White, Brad Haddin, Steven Smith, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Ryan Harris, Clint McKay, Doug Bollinger.

Twenty20 squad Shane Watson, David Warner, Michael Clarke (capt), Cameron White, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Daniel Christian, Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Ryan Harris, Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait.

Australia A four-day squad Ed Cowan, Usman Khawaja, Michael Klinger, George Bailey (capt), Peter Forrest, Andrew McDonald, Tim Paine, Mitchell Marsh, Steve O’Keefe, Ben Hilfenhaus, Josh Hazlewood, Peter George, Mitchell Starc.

Australia A one-day squad Tim Paine, Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges, George Bailey (capt), Travis Birt, Aaron Finch, Andrew McDonald, Mitchell Marsh, Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, James Pattinson, Jake Haberfield, Josh Hazlewood.

SCHEDULE

VB Tour of The British Isles
17 June Australia v Ireland, Clontarf, Dublin (One-Day International)
19 June Australia v Middlesex, Lord’s (One-Day Tour Match)
22 June Australia v England, Rose Bowl (One-Day International)
24 June Australia v England, Cardiff (One-Day International)
27 June Australia v England, Old Trafford (One-Day International)
30 June Australia v England, The Oval (One-Day International)
3 July Australia v England, Lord’s (One-Day International)

VB Pakistan Series
5 July Australia v Pakistan, Edgbaston (Twenty20 International)
6 July Australia Pakistan, Edgbaston (Twenty20 International)
*8-9 July Australia v Derbyshire, Derby (Two-Day Tour Match)
*13-17 July Australia v Pakistan, Lord’s (1st Test)
*21-25 July Australia v Pakistan, Headingley (2nd Test)

Australia A Series
18-21 June Australia A v Sri Lanka A, Allan Border Field, Brisbane (Four-Day Match)
25-28 June Australia A v Sri Lanka A, Townsville (Four-Day Match)
2 July Australia A v Sri Lanka A, Townsville (Twenty20 Match)
4 July Australia A v Sri Lanka A, Townsville (One-Day Match)
7 July Australia A v Sri Lanka A, Townsville (One-Day Match)
10 July Australia A v Sri Lanka A, Allan Border Field, Brisbane (One-Day Match)

Former successful Australian Captain, Steve Waugh has backed Michael Clarke and wants him as the Captain of the Aussie side. He said that Clarke’s ability should be as a Captain and not in personal life.

WHAT HE SAID ABOUT CLARKE ?

Clarke’s took right decision to leave in between the New Zealand tour to handle his personal life matters which should not affect his game.

It’s a personal matter. I think all captains have had issues they’ve needed to deal with. You look at Ricky Ponting when he was in the Australian side he had the personal issue when he was at Kings Cross and he gained a black eye, yet he went from strength to strength afterwards

ON HIS T20 SKILLS:-

You need to lead a normal life as well. I think Michael will show what kind of leader he is by the way he plays his cricket.

He’s done very well as captain for Australia in the Twenty20 and also the one-days and I don’t think it should affect his Test captaincy chances one little bit.

ON TIGHT SCHEDULES:-

I don’t think it’s a scheduling issue. I think the way of the world now is cricketers are high profile and when you have a high-profile partner, all of a sudden it can be hard.

HE FURTHER ADDED:-

I think ever since David Beckham and Posh, every country has wanted their own version of Posh and Becks. Unfortunately someone has to carry that mantle and it was Michael and Lara, and I don’t think they understood how big it was going to get and the burden it was going to become

The Australian Speedster, Brett Lee who was an integral part of the Kings XI Punjab team in IPL 1 and IPL 2 pulled out of the tournament even before the start of it.

Actually, Lee was to miss the starting games because he was suffering from an elbow injury and remain in India to play rest of IPL.

The Veteran had announced his retirement from Test Cricket recently this summer and wanted to concentrate in shorter versions of Cricket- ODI and T20.

He wanted to get back to the T20 World Cup Team and play in T20 World Cup starting April end in the Caribbean Islands by performing well in the Indian Premier League tournament.

But, his manager had told in an Australian Daily that- Lee was preferring to wait in Australia rather than staying in Chandigarh, from a security point of view.

The Kings XI Punjab team are undergoing a disastrous period with a low bowling attack in the IPL 3.

Injuries after injuries for the fastest bowler Brett Lee. But he has managed to have his name in for the T20 World Cup which will take place this May in the Caribbean Islands.

With him is the Australian Pacer, Nathan Bracken who too is back after a heap of injuries.

Lee had recently retired from the longer form of cricket and told he will focus on the shorter versions.

The Australian Board has given a chance to the 35 year old Brad Hodge.

There are 4 new names in the squad. CSK player and Tasmanian Captain George Bailey, his team mate Xavier Doherty, the Victorian John Hastings and Queenslander Ben Cutting are the newbies in the Probables.

Here goes the squad—

Michael Clarke (capt), George Bailey, Travis Birt, Doug Bollinger, Nathan Bracken, Daniel Christian, Ben Cutting, Xavier Doherty, Brad Haddin (wk), Ryan Harris, John Hastings, Nathan Hauritz, Moises Henriques, Brad Hodge, James Hopes, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew McDonald, Shaun Marsh, Clint McKay, Dirk Nannes, Tim Paine (wk), Steven Smith, Shaun Tait, Adam Voges, David Warner, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

The owner of the most famous league, Lalit Kumar Modi has warned the players who will opt of of the IPL 3 this year and axe them from playing the rest of the tournament.

This message mainly went to the Australians who had some security concerns from playing IPL.

Modi has chosen Twitter to communicate and dash out his comments on this issue. He said:-

The government has already given ample assurances for safe conduct of games.

The call will be theirs. We will allow replacements for those who decide not to show up. We have 98 players on the waiting list eager to get called in.

The IPL is for India and will remain for India. No one can dictate to us how we should conduct our tournaments

Been told (Australia captain) Ricky Ponting (is) pressuring players not to come

The general manger at Hart Security, Julian Clover has said:-

‘If you’re looking at the terrorist threat in India at the moment there are a number of strands

There is the Maoist or Naxalite strand which tends to be rural-based groups who act against security forces from the Indian establishment.

You’ve got separatism, the long-term problem up in Kashmir, and probably the most challenging strand of terrorism that faces the Indians in the Islamic Al Qaeda element.

Of course it’s always a matter of opinion as to how much influence there is from Al Qaeda in Islamic terrorism and how much is domestic.

I think, based on recent events, they would be the most capable. They’ve shown intent and a lot of determination to press their attacks home.

Lets see how this issue progresses!!!