Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood suffered a minor calf strain during a training session last week and will miss the upcoming T20I series against Scotland.
The three-match T20I against Scotland will begin next month and Hazlewood will not be a part of Australia’s squad.
Hazlewood’s injury is not serious and he is expected to mark his return during the white-ball series against England later in September. For the Scotland series, he will be replaced by Riley Meredith, who last played T20Is in 2021.
Meredith played for Somerset in white-ball cricket during the T20 Blast where he bagged 14 wickets at 22.78, including four for 27 at Lord’s. He also took eight wickets in T20Is against New Zealand and West Indies three years ago.
Hazlewood became the second Australia pacer to be ruled out of the Scotland series after Spencer Johnson sustained a side train during The Hundred.
Australia’s pace attack will now consist of Meredith, Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott and Nathan Ellis alongside allrounders Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie and Marcus Stoinis, and captain Mitchell Marsh. Adam Zampa and the uncapped Cooper Connolly will do their job as the spinners.
Hazlewood was the only pacer from Australia’s big three to be included for the full UK tour as Mitchell Starc will only play ODIs against England while Pat Cummins is taking a rest till the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
"The priority at the moment is to smash out some gym work and start reassessing in a few weeks a path forward," Cummins said last week.
"I'm just trying to fill up the bucket again after two years of non-stop bowling. [Hoping] come that first Test [against India] in as good of a position as I have been in for a few years."
Australia T20I squad vs Scotland
Mitchell Marsh (capt), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Riley Meredith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
- Josh Hazlewood
