Australia likely to rotate pacers for SA series

Australia pacers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood at a training session. Australia selector Trevor Hohns said the pace attack chosen for the SA tour has done the job for Australia on numerous occasions so the selectors just had to make sure the bowlers recovered sufficiently after the loss against India.

IMAGE: Australia pacers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood at a training session. Australia selector Trevor Hohns said the pace attack chosen for the SA tour has done the job for Australia on numerous occasions so the selectors just had to make sure the bowlers recovered sufficiently after the loss against India. Photograph: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images/Getty Images

National selector Trevor Hohns has indicated that Australia might follow the rotation policy for their pace battery during the South Africa tour while admitting it should have been done against India in the recently concluded Test series.

Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc along with spinner Nathan Lyon played all four Tests against India. While Cummins and Hazlewood starred with the ball, Starc and Lyon had to toil hard for wickets.

Starc picked eight wickets in the first two Tests against India but wasn't able to trouble the visitors' batsmen in the last two games which eventually saw Australia losing at The Gabba to hand the visitors the series 2-1.

Hohns feels that the Australia team management would have to be more mindful in the future and said all the bowlers who played against India have recovered and are fit for the South Africa tour.

"In hindsight, [we] possibly could have been done. Prior to finalising any team, we check with medical people and even check with our players sometimes just to find out how they are doing," ESPNcricinfo quoted Hohns as saying when asked about rotation.

"Sure, the games were pretty tight and close together, maybe we have to be a little more mindful of that going forward. However, in this instance all the bowlers had recovered sufficiently for the medicos to give them the thumbs up," he added.

Cummins, Hazlewood, and Starc were named in Australia's squad for South Africa series on Wednesday. Hohns said the chosen pace attack has done the job for Australia on numerous occasions so the selectors just had to make sure the bowlers recovered sufficiently after the loss against India.

"We considered those three fast bowlers, who had performed very well over a long period of time, were the best ones for the job. Once we'd checked to make sure they'd recovered sufficiently we thought it was the best attack," said Hohns.

Meanwhile, Matthew Wade was left out of Australia's Test squad for the South Africa tour while Tim Paine received strong support to continue as captain.

Wade will instead tour New Zealand for the T20I series as Australia will lock horns both with the Kiwis and South Africa in February and March. The Australian T20I squad will be captained by Aaron Finch and coached by Andrew McDonald.

Cricket Australia (CA) has confirmed that the Australian men's T20I squad tour to New Zealand will not change irrespective of the outcome of discussions between Cricket South Africa and CA regarding the Australian men's Test tour of South Africa.