Bowling allrounder Sean Abbott has been ruled out of the rest of the Sri Lanka tour after fracturing his finger in the nets, while Peter Handscomb has also left the Australia A squad to be with his pregnant partner in Melbourne.
Abbott was part of Australia's T20I squad that was preparing for the first T20I of a three-match series in Colombo on Tuesday, although he was not selected in Australia's XI for game one. But he suffered a fracture to his left index finger while batting in the nets and has been ruled out of the remainder of the tour. He was supposed to link up with the Australia A squad following the T20I series, for the four-day matches, as he is not part of Australia's ODI squad.
Handscomb, who had also announced he was not heading back to captain Middlesex in the county championship following the Australia A series in Sri Lanka, has decided to leave Sri Lanka to head home to be with his pregnant partner as the pair are expecting their first child.
Test bowler Scott Boland has been called up to travel to Sri Lanka early to cover for Abbott in the Australia A four-day matches ahead of the two-match Test series. He was originally set to arrive later with the Test-only squad members not required to travel until later in the month.
Queensland wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson has been called up to the A squad as cover for Handscomb. Peirson has been called up in the likely event Australia A needs a specialist wicketkeeper in the four-day games if Josh Inglis is required to play in the ODI series as a batter. Josh Philippe is in the A squad but appears likely to only play in the 50-over games.
Australia's selectors have named an Australia A XI for the first 50-over match in Colombo on Wednesday. Alex Carey is set to captain the side with Cameron Green also named. Carey and Green weren't originally in the A squad but have been added for the two 50-over games as preparation for the ODI series starting next Tuesday.
Australia A will feature three specialist spinners in the same XI, with Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann and Tanveer Sangha all named to play as Australia hope to expose their young spinners to Sri Lankan conditions.
Australia A XI for Wednesday: Henry Hunt, Josh Philippe, Matt Renshaw, Nic Maddinson, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (capt, wk), Aaron Hardie, Mark Steketee, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann, Tanveer Sangha
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