Pucovski added to Australian test squad

Victorian talent Will Pucovski is a shock inclusion in Australia’s test squad for the two-match series against Sri Lanka in a shake-up that includes the axing of brothers Shaun and Mitchell Marsh as well as Aaron Finch and Peter Handscomb.

Cricket Australia confirmed yesterday that Pucovski, 20, had been included in a 13-man squad and the Marshes had been dropped.

Pucovski, one of the brightest batting talents in the country, has only played eight first-class matches but made a strong impression in that time, most notably by scoring 243 against Western Australia in Perth in October. His burgeoning career has been interrupted by a series of worrying head knocks and he has only recently returned from a break from the game that he took to deal with mental healthrelated illness.

Queensland batsmen Joe Burns and Matthew Renshaw are the other new names in a squad that will assemble in Brisbane late next week ahead of the first test against Sri Lanka on January 24 at the Gabba.

Australia’s three-man selection panel has decided enough is enough for the Marsh brothers, who have both been omitted from the squad despite being involved during the India series. Shaun Marsh’s seven-year test career looks to be all but over.

Finch, who did not feature in the final SCG test, and Handscomb, who scored 37 in his most recent test innings last week, were also overlooked in a sign that selectors want to go in a different direction.

Burns has chalked up 472 runs at 47.2 in this year’s Sheffield Shield season, and while Renshaw’s numbers are not as favourable (199 runs at 19.9), national selector Trevor Hohns said he had been picked with an eye to the Ashes later this year.

Australia’s batting is under the pump after a deflating performance in the four-test series against India in which no player scored a hundred, with the hosts arguably flattered by a 2-1 series defeat that was completed when rain forced a draw in Sydney.

Pucovski will feature in the Cricket Australia XI squad to face Sri Lanka in Hobart next week. He and four others have been included in both the Australian and CA XI squads. Australia test squad: Tim Paine (c), Josh Hazlewood, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Will Pucovksi, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle.