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With no date set for Theo Walcott’s return to the Arsenal team for next season, and the club apparently still weighing up a move for Loic Remy to fill two needs in the team’s attack, why not opt for Carlos Vela?

The Mexican may not be to every Arsenal fan’s liking after his disappointing first spell in north London, but this is an altogether different player, one who has been allowed to mature and afforded the kind of trust at Real Sociedad that was absent from Arsene Wenger’s coaching.

There was rightly a lot of excitement about Vela prior to his initial arrival at Arsenal, having spent all of his time in European football away on loan on the continent. His talent at the U17 World Championship in 2005 was clear, while his exploits in La Liga for Osasuna in particular left many fans eager to see the forward added to the team at the Emirates.

Carlos Vela’s time at Arsenal can be summarised as being nothing more than a Carling Cup cult figure. He performed well in the domestic cup competition but failed to transfer that cutting edge in front of goal to higher-profiled matches, though that should speak wholly of the lack of chances given to the youngster, who was constantly in and out of the team.

Vela’s form at Real Sociedad over the past three seasons is a better representation of what he’s all about: exceptionally quick, incredibly talented, and an attacking partnership with Antoine Griezmann that became one of the most eye-catching away from the top three teams.

Regular football in Spain has seen Vela develop into the kind of player Arsenal are desperately in need of. He’s one of the star players in the Basque country, but for now, provided this deal goes through, he’d be a squad addition, although a very good option to have and one who could certainly earn a regular place in the starting XI.

At this stage, there isn’t too much Remy can offer Arsenal that Vela can’t. Both would offer the pace Arsenal lacked for much of last season, while being able to chip in with either goals or assists on a regular basis. The £3.5 million for Vela is a bargain that really shouldn’t be passed up by the club. Unlike the case with Fabregas, where people have unbelievably been able to condone the club passing up the option to re-sign him, Vela is very much needed. Whether or not he plays in place of Olivier Giroud through the middle – and size and quality aside, Arsenal should be bringing in more than just Vela to address that position – the Mexican is the perfect alternate to Walcott on the right side of attack.

There really shouldn’t be too much of a debate on this one. It wasn’t too long ago that fans were on Aaron Ramsey’s back over a prolonged dip in form. Like the Welshman, Vela has proven to have kicked on in his career and would be a great option to have in the current team. The transfer fee means Arsenal aren’t really taking a risk on this one. There’s no issue about him getting regular games this time around, as Arsenal’s constant injury problems leave spaces that need to be filled in the starting XI.

Time and time again over the past few weeks people have described this move as a no-brainer – and that’s exactly what it is. It’s chump change for a club who are boasting the wealth from an accumulation of Champions League revenue, television income and new sponsorship deals.

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There’s nothing romantic clouding the judgement on this one. Arsenal very much need Vela going into next season. If not him, then a player in a similar mould. But there’s no need to scour Europe when a high-quality bargain signing is on the table.

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Wayne Rooney’s new book, entitled “Wayne Rooney – My decade in the Premier League” released six weeks ago, has proved to be a huge flop, according to the Daily Mail.

Last Friday made it ten years since Wayne Rooney shot to footballing fame following his unforgettable goal against Arsenal back when he was a 16-year-old at Everton. Since then, Rooney has been an integral cog for Manchester United and England, developing into the world class player many expected him to. However, it appears the literary world has little interest in what Rooney has to say about his thrilling ten-year career.

The book’s release couldn’t have come at a better time for Rooney, whose media stock has been high of late. The striker has been in the headlines for his 200th club goal, the 10th anniversary of his first league goal, being appointed England captain and his wife Coleen expecting a second child. Despite this, the England international’s book has only sold 6,000 copies in six weeks since being published.

Publishers HarperCollins held an emergency meeting with the United Striker before his newest book went to print. Currently the two parties have agreed a record breaking 12-year deal, worth £5 million for five books, however it is now believed that the remaining three books are likely to be scrapped.

HarperCollins publishing director Nick Canham has recently spoken in defence of the deal, and insists it is not being terminated: “It’s a long-term agreement with the guy. Wayne is one of the top three players in the world, alongside Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.”

When asked about the topic of future books, Canham reasserted the deal with Rooney was one of longevity.

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“The simple thing is we have a long-term agreement with Wayne and that affords us a number of opportunities,” he added.

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It was San Francisco Unicorns’ fourth win in four games, and Texas Super Kings’ first defeat in MLC 2025

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jun-2025Faf du Plessis slammed a 51-ball 100, but he had to do it alone, pretty much, for Texas Super Kings. That was the difference between Super Kings and San Francisco Unicorns on the day, since Unicorns had two men doing it, doing it at well over a-run-a-ball, and doing it for long enough. The quick half-centuries Matthew Short and Finn Allen hit were not only enough to take Unicorns over the line in a chase of 199, but get there with 23 balls in hand. The win kept them at the top of the MLC 2025 table with four wins in four, with Super Kings one spot below after their first loss.Super Kings were asked to bat, and du Plessis had two big partnerships for the first two wickets, but he had to contribute exactly 100 runs to those, which added up to 166. In the first stand, of 97, Devon Conway was unusually slow, scoring 23 in 23. In the second, worth 69, Saiteja Mukkamalla did better than Conway had, contributing 38 to du Plessis’ 30, though they went at roughly the same strike rate.To make matters worse for Super Kings, Mukkamalla, du Plessis and Marcus Stoinis fell in an eight-ball spell to Xavier Bartlett and Haris Rauf, and that derailed them at a point when they looked good to top 200.Faf du Plessis did most of the scoring for Texas Super Kings while he was around•Sportzpics for MLC

Du Plessis, though, was supreme in getting his first fifty-plus score since April 29, when he hit 62 in 45 balls for Delhi Capitals against Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2025. There were six fours and seven sixes in his innings as he scored at a strike rate of exactly 200 before being dismissed.But even if Super Kings had crossed 200, it’s unlikely Allen and Short would have cared.Allen barely got any of the strike in the first three overs as Short sped off the blocks, getting to 33 in 16 balls even as Allen was 1 off 2. After that, though, it was a different story. Over four, five and six went for 10, 23 and 15, and Unicorns were 83 for no loss after the powerplay and Allen was 34 off 16 to Short’s 46 off 21.The runs kept coming, and the half-centuries too, as the two took the total to 117 before being separated when Short holed out off Daryl Mitchell for a 29-ball 61. Allen was on 52 at that point in the ninth over, and batted on to score 78 in 35. When he was dismissed, by the impressive Adam Milne, Unicorns were just 30 runs away with 7.4 overs to go. Jake Fraser-McGurk took care of most of those with a 25-ball 37.

“I’m happy, I’m excited and having fun playing cricket again, which was the most important thing for me”

Shashank Kishore05-Sep-20224:13

Kohli on answering his critics: I’ve never paid attention to these things

Virat Kohli is “excited” and “having fun” playing cricket, he said, but not long ago, he wasn’t getting any joy from the game. As he said recently, he was “faking his intensity a bit” and the fatigue and everything else added up and took a toll on him mentally. After top-scoring for India in the defeat to Pakistan on Sunday night at the Asia Cup, he also said that MS Dhoni aside, no one actually made the effort to reach out to him when he was going through a low phase.That phase came on the back of a somewhat tumultuous period in his career. He had given up the IPL and T20I captaincy, and lost his ODI captaincy – something he hadn’t expected – hours before a selection meeting. Then came his shock announcement of quitting Test captaincy earlier this year. All along, the runs weren’t coming quite as smoothly as he was used to.How did he deal with it? In Dubai, Kohli tried to provide answers, and stressed that he was in a good place.”Let me tell you one thing: when I left Test captaincy, I got a message from only one person, with whom I had played previously; that was MS Dhoni,” Kohli said. “Many people have my number. On TV, people give lots of suggestions, people have a lot to say. But none of the people who had my number sent me a message.”That respect [with Dhoni], that connection you have with someone, when it is genuine, it shows like this, because there is no insecurity with either of us. Neither does he [Dhoni] need anything from me, nor do I need anything from him. Neither of us suffers from insecurity. I can only say: if I want to say something to someone, I reach out to that person individually if I want to help.”I mean, if you give the suggestions in front of the world, it has no value for me. If it is for my improvement, you can talk with me one-on-one, (tell me) that I genuinely want you to do well. I live life with a lot of honesty, so I can see through such things. I am not saying that it doesn’t matter to me, but you see the real thing. I can only say that. When you play for such a long time, when you play with honesty, the only one who looks out for you is the almighty. Until I play, until I am worthy of playing, I will play this way.”Prior to the Asia Cup, in an interview with Star Sports, Kohli elaborated about his struggles. He touched upon how an obsession over his professional identity had led to him losing perspective as a human being. He subsequently took time off, during which he switched off completely from the game, not even doing something as spontaneous as lifting a cricket bat.2:56

Uthappa: Kohli looked ominous from the first boundary he hit

At the Asia Cup, Kohli has found a semblance of form, scoring 35, 59* and 60 at an overall strike rate of 126.22. But, more importantly, there has been an air of calm around him, both at training and at the games. He said that came from the realisation that taking a break wasn’t a bad thing sometimes.”I didn’t think I’d go a month without touching my bat, but the situation became such that I had to take a break,” he said. “More mentally than physically. Then you realise when you bat again after a month why you started playing the game. That [realisation] is lost at times, the way people look at you, cheer for you when you’re at the ground, at such times you can lose that realisation.”That drive and purity for the game, that joy dissipates. It was important to rediscover that again for me. When I’m happy in my space, then I know what I can do for the team. Me being in a bad space is neither good for the team nor for me. I think no one should run away from this, if someone is feeling negative or low, taking a break isn’t a bad thing.”And I hope people will derive strength from that and address whatever they are feeling. We’re all human, everyone can feel this way. But to recognise that and care about it is important. If you ignore it, you will get more frustrated. This is something I realised and I got a lot of help. I’m happy, I’m excited and having fun playing cricket again, which was the most important thing for me.”

A separate tournament will determine which Caribbean nation is represented with the final country confirmed by qualifying event

Reuters27-Apr-2021Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, England and a nation from the Caribbean have all qualified for the women’s event 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham,Women’s cricket will feature at the Games for the first time, and cricket for the second time, after a men’s ODI competition, which was staged in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, was won by South Africa.Alongside the hosts England, the other nations to qualify were determined based on the T20I rankings on April 1, 2021.Related

• Sri Lanka complete eight-team line-up for women's T20s at Birmingham Commonwealth Games

• T10 format could be vehicle for cricket's return to Olympics

• Six teams to qualify via ICC rankings for 2022 Commonwealth Games

• Women's cricket lines up for 2022 Commonwealth Games debut on opening day

Athletes from the Caribbean represent their individual countries at the Games and a qualifying tournament for those nations will decide which team takes West Indies’ spot.The final place in the tournament will be allocated to the winners of a qualifying event to be held by January 31, 2022.”Cricket is a sport that is synonymous with the Commonwealth and we are so excited to have it back in the Games for the first time since the men’s competition at Kuala Lumpur,” Commonwealth Games Federation President Dame Louise Martin said.”The debut of women’s T20 cricket will be a historic moment for Commonwealth Sport and a wonderful showcase for women’s sport across the world.”The 2022 Commonwealth Games, which will attract 4,500 athletes from 72 nations and territories, is scheduled to run from July 28 to August 8 next year

Row erupts over tour biosecurity after England players use nets adjoining construction site

Firdose Moonda07-Dec-2020The use of a previously off-limits nets facility at Newlands has emerged as a possible source of the Covid-19 infection within the England camp, as the ECB hit back at claims from officials at Western Province that its players had breached the teams’ biosecure environment for a practice session on the eve of Friday’s scheduled first ODI.In an email sent on Thursday, December 3, and seen by ESPNcricinfo, WP informed CSA, ECB and the Claremont Police, who are in charge of maintaining the teams’ bio-bubble, that they could not be held liable for the safety or health of the England team, who opted to practice in a nets facility adjoining a construction site at the Kelvin Grove End of the ground.”Please be advised that the England cricket team has not adhered to the arrangements as agreed by all in the ESSPC [Event Security and Safety Planning Committee] meetings,” the email read. “The practice nets next to the construction site is not allowed to be used on practice days. Three cages of nets was set up on the square on the field. This serves to inform you that the England Cricket Team has accessed and used the nets today (3 December 2020) at their own risk. WPCA and the ESSPC will not be held liable or responsible for the safety and health of the England Cricket Team.”In response, an ECB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo that the session had arisen due to the “unacceptable” standard of the three practice pitches provided on the square at Newlands, and that CSA had accepted England’s request to put up a security cordon to facilitate the use of the nets as per similar arrangements during the T20I series on November 28.”On arrival at Newlands on 3 December, we advised the venue that the three nets provided on the main pitch were not of a standard for conducive practice, as per the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the respective boards,” an ECB statement said. “Batsmen were unable to face seam bowlers on the nets on the main pitch as the surfaces were rendered and unacceptable.ALSO READ: Explainer – Will the series still go ahead after Covid outbreak?“We requested with CSA that we would like to use the practice nets and that we would create a security cordon to ensure the players and coaches could enter the facility safely, as done previously on 28 November. This was confirmed by England’s Security Team, the Team Operations Manager and the Team Doctor. We were satisfied with this outcome and we were able to practice in the net facility safely.”The team also used the main outfield for fielding drills, a seam bowlers bowl through pitch and a number of nets were used for range-hitting against spin bowlers and coaches throws.”As far as the England touring party are concerned, the safety and health of our players and coaches was not compromised.”The nets at Newlands are currently out of bounds due to the construction of an office block at the Kelvin Grove End of the ground. The building site is attended to by several workers throughout the day. When South African players, including Andile Phehlukwayo and David Miller, who missed the T20 series, and some support staff attempted to have a net after Friday’s postponed first ODI, they were sent back and instructed to return to their hotel rooms.At the time, a third South African player had just tested positive for the coronavirus, causing the first ODI to be pushed back. On Saturday, two members of the Vineyard Hotel staff, who do not work in the same area and have not left the premises since November 16, also tested positive, prompting the entire England touring party to be retested. England returned two “unconfirmed” positive results, but have sought to get the tests analysed by doctors in London. The two England cases meant Sunday’s ODI in Paarl was abandoned.The fate of the rest of the series, which has now been reduced to two ODIs, hinges on the analysis of England’s results. Should positive cases be confirmed, those infected and their close contacts will have to quarantine in South Africa for 10 days before leaving for the UK, which could impact on Big Bash and Christmas plans. If the results of the tests are negative, the series could be completed with back-to-back ODIs on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The former New Zealand captain, who has worked alongside Dhoni in the IPL, believes he can extend his career until the 2019 World Cup

Gaurav Kalra31-May-20176:14

Fleming: Dhoni not arrogant enough to assume he will play 2019 World Cup

Stephen Fleming, the former New Zealand captain, believes MS Dhoni can extend his international career until the 2019 World Cup. Fleming, who has worked alongside Dhoni during IPL coaching stints with Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiant, believes the former India captain will relish the competition he faces from players like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik and Wriddhiman Saha for the spot of India’s first-choice limited-overs wicketkeeper-batsman in the immediate future. Although Dhoni will be 38 by the 2019 World Cup, Fleming is convinced he will continue to make significant contributions to the Indian team.”There are a lot of players who can do that, but there is only one MS Dhoni at the moment,” Fleming said, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo. “I think his track record deserves the first crack at it. He has balance in his life now so he can get fit and come back fresh. I think he will do it. He is aware that he needs to keep performing and that’s when great players are at their best. If you get too comfortable you are not at your best.”He is not arrogant enough to assume that he will make it through to the 2019 World Cup. He’s made it clear that he wants to play that World Cup but he knows he also to do well to do that. He’s now trying to prove his worth as he did when he was a youngster. That again is a tribute to his approach to the game and his humility towards the game. He’s desperate to keep performing. If he feels he stops performing and starts to lag and becomes a hindrance, then he will give up the game.”Dhoni’s future in the Indian ODI team has been the subject of much speculation in recent years. His numbers since the 2015 World Cup, too, haven’t been as impressive as earlier. In 21 innings since that tournament, Dhoni has made 776 runs at an average of 38.80 and a strike rate of 86.99. Overall, in ODIs, he has scored 9275 runs in 286 matches at an average of nearly 51.Fleming concedes that while the “giddy heights” of four to five years ago will probably be impossible to replicate, Dhoni can still be relied upon to deliver in crunch situations. Fleming is also of the view that Dhoni is best placed to continue as a finisher rather than move up the order, a move that the former India captain himself desires.”If his keeping was deteriorating that might be a sign but it is actually getting better”•AFP

“It [moving up the order] depends on the balance of the side,” Fleming reasoned. “If you have straight-out batsmen, then I wouldn’t. He can do it but what you have to look at is that his strength is finishing the game. People say why don’t you get him in earlier but the whole game changes from the 40th over, or the 16th over if it is a T20 game, when it becomes [the] death [overs]. And that’s where he’s been the best, I think.”So you have to be careful you don’t take that strength; when you apply it earlier, you lose that, maybe he gets out early. Not many can do what he can in the last stanza but many can do that job in the middle. So you don’t want to take away that strength just to give him more time and get him up the order to play a more substantial innings, when his strength is in the last few.”We have such high expectations of what he can do and often that is unfair. There is going to be some slippage, every great player has slipped a little bit as they’ve got older. At key times he is still contributing. Even this IPL it wasn’t there as much as other years but at key times he was there. In the game against Mumbai [Indians], a virtual semi-final, he got 40 off a few balls and played a great hand.”The other thing is to play without fear. Often when you get older, the consequence starts to creep in. So what we’ve talked about is playing that fearless brand of cricket that he’s become known for, and making sure that he doesn’t get too cautious and too worried about getting out and the consequences of that. He’s at his best when he has no fear.”While Dhoni’s batting form appears to have declined in recent years, his glovework has remained of the highest quality. India’s chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad, recently described Dhoni as the best wicketkeeper in the world and from his vantage point in the Rising Pune set-up, Fleming believes Dhoni’s keeping is “almost getting better”.”I can’t say it is through a lot of training,” Fleming said with a laugh. “In fact during my time in the IPL, I have not seen him do any wicket-keeping training, it is all natural and it’s unorthodox but it’s fast and effective. Some of the dismissals and stumpings during the recent IPL were absolutely dynamite. So there’s nothing wrong there and that’s a great sign of reflexes and where he is, because people are questioning his age and his batting and the role he can play. If his keeping was deteriorating that might be a sign but it is actually getting better, which is a real positive for India.””He is a wicketkeeper, he is used to positioning players, but it’s still a challenge to sit back.”•BCCI

Fleming believes one of Dhoni’s greatest challenges in the months ahead will be to adjust to a role as just another player in the team. Dhoni stepped down as ODI and T20I captain at the start of the year, after nearly a decade at the helm.”It is very difficult, I can speak from my own experience,” Fleming said. “Once you get away from that decision-making, people can say it’s very easy, you can focus on your own game and do your own thing, but it is very hard to switch the other things off. You are so used to being the decision-maker, moving players and being part of the tactics, it becomes a key part of how you play the game. It does take some adjustment.”He is a wicketkeeper, he is used to positioning players, but it’s still a challenge to sit back. You want to be part of decision-making, it is a key part of why you play the game. It is one of his challenges going forward. He has coped with it pretty well so far. He needs to be used to add that value and experience he has had over the years and more so for him, to feel like he is contributing rather than the other way round.”

The Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) has formed 10 sub-committees that will work under court-appointed observer, former Justice Mukul Mudgal, in regards to the organisation of the fourth Test between India and South Africa

PTI20-Nov-2015The Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA), during an internal meeting today, has formed 10 sub-committees that will work under court-appointed observer, former Justice Mukul Mudgal, in regards to the organisation of the fourth Test between India and South Africa. Justice Mudgal will be going to the Feroz Shah Kotla at 11am on Saturday morning for his first meeting with senior DDCA officials.”Today we have formed the 10 sub-committees that will be working for the smooth conduct of the Test match. Each committee will have a chairman and also have three-four members,” DDCA treasurer Ravinder Manchanda told PTI. “Tomorrow Justice Mudgal will be coming to Kotla for inspection and first meeting with the officials. We have asked all our executive committee members to be present.”However Manchanda said that they are yet to finalise the names of the members in each committee. “We will fill up the names by tomorrow. We will need to
see what Justice Mudgal advises,” he said. “We will certainly obey and follow his instructions.”

Sussex finished the Yorkshire Bank 40 programme with a flourish when Luke Wright and Matt Machan sealed a comprehensive seven-wicket win with 11.3 overs to spare against Worcestershire at New Road

26-Aug-2013
ScorecardLuke Wright’s stellar form continued with another rapid hundred•Getty Images

Sussex finished the Yorkshire Bank 40 programme with a flourish when Luke Wright and Matt Machan sealed a comprehensive seven-wicket win with 11.3 overs to spare against Worcestershire at New Road.Worcestershire’s total of 243 for 6 proved to be well short of being a testing target as Sussex’s second-wicket pair ripped the bowling to shreds, putting on 184 in 19 overs before falling in the space of eight balls from Moeen Ali.Wright had plundered two sixes and 14 fours when he was caught at long on after making 112 from 69 balls and Machan was bowled for 79 after hitting 12 fours and a six from 57 deliveries.With three Group A wins in the last fortnight of the competition, Sussex have gone a little way towards burying the memory of a disastrous Friends Life t20 campaign in which they lost nine from 10 games.Wright came into the match on the back of scoring 143 not out from 68 balls for England Lions against Bangladesh A last week and he was able to continue in that vein after being dropped at mid-off when he was still in single figures.With Ed Joyce bowled by Jack Shantry in the third over, Machan was given an early opportunity to showcase his range of shots. The young left-hander did not disappoint, needing four balls fewer than Wright to reach 50. However from that point it was showtime for the senior partner as he completed a second 50 in only 28 balls.Earlier allrounder Moeen continued his rich run of form for Worcestershire but only as far as adding 51 to his three centuries spread between two competitions last week.Sussex’s bowlers quickly came under fire as the England Lions left-hander drove Andrew Miller to long on for six and picked off seven more boundaries in completing his half-century from only 37 balls.It was the power of his driving that brought about his downfall when he chanced a single off Will Beer. The ball reached mid-off so quickly that Chris Liddle had time to run him out with a direct hit at the bowler’s end.With Moeen gone, Sussex were able to claw back the scoring rate as the spinners, Beer and Chris Nash, took one wicket each in getting through 16 overs together for 81 runs.It was a measure of their accuracy that Thilan Samaraweera managed to hit only seven fours, although he did maintain a run-a-ball tempo in an unbeaten 72. Ross Whiteley provided something more heavy-handed, driving Beer for a straight six as he contributed 34 out of 63 before he was yorked by Liddle.

Fawad Ahmed is expected to make his long-awaited debut for Australia during the limited-overs series that follows the Ashes after being named in an 18-man squad at the expense of Xavier Doherty

Brydon Coverdale15-Aug-2013Fawad Ahmed is expected to make his long-awaited debut for Australia during the limited-overs series that follows the Ashes after being named in an 18-man squad at the expense of Xavier Doherty. Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has also been included and should play his first ODI in three years, while Doherty and the allrounder Mitchell Marsh were the only players dropped from the squad that contested the Champions Trophy in June.The most fascinating inclusion is that of Ahmed, a legspinner who arrived in Australia in 2010 as an asylum seeker from Pakistan, where he had played ten first-class games over four years. Ahmed impressed for Victoria during the 2012-13 season and his Australian citizenship was fast-tracked this year in an effort to make him available for the Ashes, although he was ultimately not chosen in the Test squad.But Australia’s selectors remain keen on Ahmed as an international option and have been impressed by his bowling during the ongoing Australia A tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa. Although Ahmed has collected only two wickets in the five one-day games on the tour, the selectors believe he has bowled better than his figures indicate, and he will be the lead spinner alongside allrounder Glenn Maxwell in the limited-overs games in England.

Changes to Australia’s ODI squad from the Champions Trophy

• In: Fawad Ahmed, Josh Hazlewood, Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh, Steven Smith

• Out: Xavier Doherty, Mitchell Marsh

“Fawad Ahmed gets his opportunity as the squad’s lead spinner,” the national selector John Inverarity said. “Fawad has been a consistent wicket-taker on the Australia A tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa. He is a mature and very good leg-spin bowler, and the national selection panel is keen to see how he fares in international competition … He has been bowling very well in South Africa and turning the ball and troubling the batsmen so we’re keen to have a look at him.”He takes Xavier Doherty’s place. Xavier has been a fine performer for Australia over the years. We haven’t selected the side for India, for the seven ODIs there in October, but it’s likely that both players will be on that tour. He [Doherty] is very much a known quantity and he’s a wonderful young man and a very good cricketer. He can be hopeful that further opportunities will come his way.”The 18-man squad will gather for the two Twenty20s against England that follow the Ashes and the group will then be trimmed to 15 for the one-off ODI against Scotland and five against England in September. While Mitchell Marsh was replaced by Steven Smith after having limited impact in the Champions Trophy, his brother Shaun was included and is likely to play in the T20s, but whether he remains part of the squad for the ODIs is unclear.The same can be said of Aaron Finch, who has been captain of Australia A during the African tour, while the rest of the batting line-up was largely as expected. However, there was no place for Nic Maddinson, the young New South Wales batsman who has played a number of eye-catching innings for Australia A in the British Isles and Africa over the past couple of months, including a remarkable 181 from 143 balls against Gloucestershire in Bristol.”While he hasn’t been selected in this squad, the national selection panel also notes the strong performances of Nic Maddinson in recent months for Australia A,” Inverarity said. “We look forward to him continuing to build on that good form and pressing his claims for higher honours in the future.”The pace attack will be led by the experienced Mitchell Johnson and Clint McKay, but also features younger talent including Nathan Coulter-Nile, who made his T20 international debut in February, and Hazlewood, who also reappeared in the national side via February’s T20 against West Indies. Hazlewood, 22, made his ODI debut in England in 2010 but has always been regarded by the selectors as a player to watch.”We’re looking forward to him showing his wares in international cricket again,” Inverarity said. “He made his debut for Australia in 2010 at the age of 19. Three years later he’s a stronger young man and a better bowler. He has been very impressive with his form in Zimbabwe and South Africa.”I’ve been talking with Andy Bichel, who’s the selector on duty in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and Josh has been very impressive, has bowled with good pace and good accuracy and has been moving the ball. I think it’s the right time for him to come through and join the international squad.”Squad Michael Clarke (ODI capt), George Bailey (T20 capt), Fawad Ahmed, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Phillip Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Clint McKay, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Voges, Matthew Wade (wk), David Warner, Shane Watson.