Australia squad for Sri Lanka tour announced: Smith to captain, McSweeney returns

Australia will play two Test matches and a one-off One Day International against Sri Lanka with the first Test starting on January 29.

Steve Smith will lead the Australia side in its Sri Lanka tour in the absence of regular captain Pat Cummins as Nathan McSweeney made a return to set-up, Cricket Australia (CA) announced on Thursday.

CA released the squad on the heels of a 3-1 win over India in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 trophy, which helped the side clinch a place in the World Test Championship final. Cummins will be missing this tour due to paternity leave.

Cricket Australia also said Cummins was “focusing on an ankle issue which was managed through the test summer” and fellow paceman Josh Hazlewood was continuing his recovery from a calf injury. Mitchell Marsh was omitted for the tour, joining Hazlewood in focusing on the 50-overs Champion’s Trophy in Pakistan which immediately follows the test tour.

Australia’s selectors concentrated on spin for the two Sri Lanka tests, with uncapped 21-year-old Cooper Connolly among the seven full or part-time slow bowling options in the 16-man squad.

“Sri Lanka is a challenging and exciting place to tour given the different conditions players may be presented with,” selector George Bailey said. “This squad provides several ways to structure the XI depending on what type of wickets we may encounter in each match.”

Australia will play two Test matches and a one-off One Day International against Sri Lanka with the first Test starting on January 29. The second Test will be from February 6 onwards, followed by the ODI on February 13.

Australia squad for Sri Lanka tour:

Steve Smith (captain), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.