Cricket Australia CEO 'disappointed' over ODI series loss against Pakistan

Cricket Australia (CA) CEO Nick Hockley expressed his disappointment over the reigning champions’ 2-1 ODI series defeat against Pakistan.

Australia, on Sunday, succumbed to their first ODI series defeat against Pakistan at home since 2002 as the visitors raced to a commanding eight-wicket victory in the decider.

The home side rested five key players – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne – for the series decider in a bid to provide their all-format players ample opportunity to gear up for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy – a five-match Test series against India.

Reflecting on the series defeat, Hockley termed the outcome ‘extremely disappointing’ but defended the selectors by insisting that the move provided young players with an opportunity to showcase their talent.

“We have been criticised in the past, but not giving new players an opportunity to come in. I think there was a plan in place, and that plan was really to make sure that our all-format players were absolutely peak condition for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series,” Hockley was quoted as saying by an Indian news website.

“This was obviously a massively disappointing result, but I think a really good opportunity to expose some of the talent was coming through to the pressures of international cricket,” he added.

After the enthralling ODI series, Pakistan and Australia are set to lock horns in a three-match T20I series, scheduled to run from November 14 to 18.

Pakistan’s T20I squad: Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim, Usman Khan.

Australia's T20I squad: Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis (c), Spencer Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.