Australia’s Henriques, Starc ‘recalled’ for Sri Lanka tour
O’Keefe to provide 2nd spin option
MELBOURNE, May 24, (RTRS): Australia all-rounder Moises Henriques is in line for his first test in three years after being named in the squad for their three-match tour of Sri Lanka in July and August.
The 29-year-old seam bowler played the last of his three tests during the illfated 2013 tour of India where Australia were whitewashed 4-0 and four players were stood down for a match in the infamous ‘homework-gate’ episode.
Henriques failed to make an impression with the ball during that series but injuries to Peter Siddle and James Pattinson have opened the door for the Madeira-born cricketer to stake another claim in the top-ranked test nation.
Fast bowler Mitchell Starc and left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe were also named in the 15-man squad on Tuesday for the matches in Pallekele, Galle and Colombo.
Lethal left-armer Starc returns to the test set-up for the first time since he broke down with a foot injury during the inaugural day-night test against New Zealand in Adelaide last November.
He leads a pace attack featuring Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jackson Bird, with Pattinson missing the series due to a recurrence of stress fractures in his back and Siddle also nursing a back injury.
O’Keefe, who played just his second test in January in the series finale against West Indies in Sydney, will provide the option of a second spinner to back up regular Nathan Lyon.
Australia have retained the batting lineup which soundly defeated New Zealand and West Indies over the home summer.
Sri Lanka host the first test in Pallekele on July 26, with matches in Galle (Aug 4) and Colombo (Aug 13) to follow.
The teams will also play five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches.
Squad: Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Moises Henriques, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Steve O’Keefe, Jackson Bird, Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Chaves remains second but is 3:00 behind Kruijswijk, with Valverde moving up to third at 3:23 and Nibali, the 2014 Tour de France champion, dropping one place to fourth at 4:43.
Italian champion Nibali had been at the forefront all day but came up short on the final climb, the Fai della Paganella, following an attack by Valverde.
There were only 15 kms remaining and Kruijswijk was quickly on to the Spaniard’s wheel. Nibali, by this time, had used up most of his fuel. He was dropped back to a chasing group that contained Chaves.
Nibali has now lost time to Kruijswijk on the past two stages having been only 41secs behind the Dutchman after Saturday’s ‘Queen Stage’ in the Dolomites mountains.
Kruijswijk, meanwhile, keeps going from strength to strength.
A day after Nibali promised to bite into his deficit, ‘Lo Squalo’ (The Shark) will now look to recover on stages 17 and 18 before the race for the pink jersey resumes in earnest with two big days in the mountains on Friday and Saturday.
Winners on podium show off their medals.