It wouldn’t have come out as a surprise but Australian T20I captain, Cameron White has been sacked from the ODI team after having endured a poor run of form.
White, whose overall ODI average is more than 35, has scored 201 in his last 12 innings at an average of 20.1 and has not passed the 50-run mark even once. This includes the World Cup, where White scored only 70 runs and was not able to provide any middle-order support to the side. Australia bowed out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals when they went down to India.
White was dropped out of the 14-member ODI squad that was announced today to tour Sri Lanka. However, he was retained as the captain of the T20I side, having taken over from Michael Clarke, who no longer is a part of the side in that version.
White was understandably disappointed and said that the axing felt like a kick in the guts. He added, “Obviously disappointing but the situation’s been known and there’s not much you can do about it, other than go back, get better and hope to get another opportunity at some stage.” He also said that there was no doubt that he was lacking in the runs and that he needed to go back and get truckload of them at the domestic level.
Interestingly, White’s form in the T20I hasn’t been too great either. In the last seven matches, he has made only 111 runs, with 43 of them coming in one game – the semi-final of the World T20 last year.
The one other player whose omission from the ODI squad was surprising was Ryan Harris. Harris has been injured for some time now, but he seems to have recovered from the injury. The rationale that seems to be floating around is that the selectors want him to get totally fit in order for him to be able to make it to the Test squad.
David Hussey replaces Callum Ferguson in the squad as well while Shaun Tait, having retired from the ODIs, has not been selected for the T20Is either.
Twenty20 squad: Shane Watson, David Warner, Brad Haddin, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Aaron Finch, Steven Smith, Steve O’Keefe, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, James Pattinson.
ODI squad: Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Steven Smith, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Xavier Doherty, James Pattinson, Doug Bollinger.