No Pat Cummins, Mitchell Marsh as Australia announce Test squad for Sri Lanka series; 21-year-old star gets maiden call-up

Steve Smith to lead Baggy Green in Sri Lanka as regular skipper Pat Cummins to remain in Australia where his wife Becky is due to give birth to the couple's second child.

Apart from Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh also missed their spot in the two-test match series against Sri Lanka. As per Cricket Australia, Hazlewood is currently on the road to recovery from his calf injury. Both Hazlewood and Marsh will focus their preparation on the ICC Champions Trophy ODI tournament in Pakistan and the UAE which will take place after Sri Lanka Test series. 

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Australia's young opener Nathan McSweeney who featured in three Test matches of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2025 has been recalled in the squad and young star Cooper Connolly gets a maiden call-up for the Tests. 

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

“We are excited about the opportunity ahead for the squad members who are at the start of their Test careers to continue to grow their games in subcontinent conditions where we have a number of important tours in coming years.”

Australia have already qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final which will take place in England later this year. This will be the second consecutive time for the Baggy Greens to feature in WTC. 

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