Test Championship Final 2023: Australia make late changes to squad as star pacer ruled out with injury

Australia (Source: Twitter)

With just three days left for the second edition of the Test Championship final, Australia suffered a huge setback. Star pacer Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the WTC squad due to a persistent Achilles Heel injury, a Cricket Australia statement confirmed. This forced Australia to make a late change to their 15-member squad, which is slated to face India at The Oval from June 7-11.

"Hazlewood has bowled at full tilt in recent training sessions in Formby and Beckenham in the lead-in to the Aussies’ six-Test tour of the UK but is still managing a left Achilles issue as well as a side injury that flared up during the recent Indian Premier League," the statement revealed.

"Josh was very, very close to being given the green light but we are cognisant that our upcoming schedule means this is not a one-off Test match of us," Chairman of Selectors George Bailey said.

Michael Neser announced as Hazlewood's replacement

All-rounder Michael Neser was named as a replacement for the one-off Test against India. However, he is unlikely to be chosen ahead of Scott Boland. Neser has been in excellent form for Glamorgan in England's Country Championship, taking 9 wickets in five matches and scoring a century against Sussex.

Hazlewood was forced to skip the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India earlier this year due to the injury. He also played just 3 matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). With the Ashes series against England coming up quickly, Cricket Australia does not want to take any chances with Hazlewood and expects him to be available for selection for the first Ashes Test in Birmingham on June 16.

"This will give Josh an ideal preparation leading into Edgbaston. With six Test matches in a little over seven weeks we will need all of our fast bowling assets," Bailey added.

Updated Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

Standby players: Mitch Marsh, Matthew Renshaw