World Test Championship 2023 final: Australian all-rounder Michael Neser replaces injured Josh Hazlewood
Jun 04, 2023
London [UK], June 4 : Cricket Australia has announced Michael Neser as a replacement for Josh Hazlewood who has been ruled out of the ICC World Test Championship final against India due to injury, according to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Hazelwood was constantly fighting with his Achilles injury as he played only three matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 for Royal Challengers Bangalore and ended his IPL 2023 stint in the middle of the tournament.
All-rounder Michael Neser is part of Australia's 15-player squad for the one-off Test in south London. He could be included in the side for the finals if the selector kept him before Scott Boland.
Neser has been in good form as he bagged 19 wickets in England's Country Championship for Glamorgan. He had also scored a century against Sussex.
Boland has played seven test matches and has picked 28 scalps with an average of 13.42. He recently featured in the test match against India at Nagpur in February.
India and Australia will take on each other in the WTC final at The Oval from June 7 onwards. This will be India's second straight successive final in the tournament after 2021.
India's squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Michael Neser, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner.
