Paine to captain ODI side in England

MELBOURNE: Cricket Australia said yesterday test skipper Tim Paine would also captain the oneday international team during next month’s tour of England, but the selectors are yet to decide who will lead the side’s title defence at the 2019 World Cup.

Paine was named skipper of a 15man squad for the fivematch series, Australia’s first since the balltampering scandal which led to bans for former test and ODI captain Steve Smith, his deputy David Warner and batsman Cameron Bancroft.

The selectors have installed Aaron Finch as the ODI team’s vicecaptain in place of the disgraced Warner and named the Victorian as captain of the twenty20 side also released on Tuesday.

Australia will play five onedayers and a T20 match against England from June 1327, a warmup for the global tournament in the same country next year, before heading to Zimbabwe for a T20 triseries against the host nation and Pakistan starting on July 1.

Meanwhile, India has declined to play its maiden daynight test against Australia, leaving the seriesopener in Adelaide a day match, Cricket Australia confirmed yesterday.

The Australian board had hoped India would agree to a floodlit match for the December 610 test at Adelaide Oval, where the home side has beaten England, South Africa and New Zealand in pinkball matches over the past three home summers.

Most established testplaying nations have competed in the new format, but India remains a holdout. — Reuters