Courtesy: CA
Australia have been dealt with a big blow ahead of their Test tour of West Indies with a hip injury to fast bowler Brendan Doggett, due to which he has been ruled out of the three-match series. The Australian selectors have replaced him with Sean Abbott, and with that, his hopes of potentially making a Test debut in the Caribbean went up in smoke after a string of fantastic performances in the Sheffield Shield 2024-25 campaign for South Australia.
In the final of the Sheffield Shield 2024-25, Brendan Doggett registered match figures of 11/140 at the Adelaide Oval for South Australia, which helped his team defeat Queensland by four wickets in March of this year. With that, he earned a trip to England for the World Test Championship (WTC) final 2025 as a travelling reserve for the Australian team, and the title went the way of South Africa, who won the match by five wickets at the Lord’s in London.
The Australian cricket team are set to make their way to Bridgetown, Barbados next week from London, England, to take part in the first Test of the three-match series at the Kensington Oval, starting on June 25. With Brendan Doggett set to leave for Australia, Sean Abbott will likely join the Australian side in England before they make their way to the Caribbean next week.
I think in a splint for eight weeks now and may be able to play with it in a couple of weeks: Steve Smith
As far as the status of Steve Smith is concerned after he suffered a right little finger injury in the WTC 2025 final, he is set to make his way to Bridgetown, Barbados, but his participation in the Test series is currently not confirmed. He was quoted as saying to ICC about the finger injury, “It just split the skin and dislocated it, which made me feel pretty ill at that stage. I think in a splint for eight weeks now and may be able to play with it in a couple of weeks.”
“So it'll depend on my functionality and what I'm able to do, but it's probably the best result I could have hoped for,” Steve Smith added.
Below is the Australian squad for Test tour to West Indies:
Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
