Australia facing a WT20 conundrum

With Kane Richardson the latest pace bowler to be struck down by injury, the selection puzzle surrounding the squad Australia will take to next month's World T20 tournament in India has become ever-more complex.

Richardson, who was a key component of Australia's T20 bowling attack leading into the biennial tournament, was a last-minute withdrawal from yesterday's ODI against New Zealand in Wellington due to ongoing back soreness.

The complaint has not responded to overnight treatment and the 24-year-old returns to Australia today for further scans that will determine his immediate playing future.

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Western Australia quick Joel Paris, who was on his way back to Australia from the historic Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales in Lincoln, has been drafted into the squad as cover for Richardson ahead of the deciding Chappell-Hadlee match in Hamilton tomorrow.

Paris made his ODI debut for Australia in the first two matches of the recent VB Series against India, but was not named in the extended squad for the three T20 Internationals that followed. 

WATCH: Paris picks up maiden ODI wicket

Richardson becomes the 10th Australia pace bowler rendered unavailable through retirement or injury over the past eight months alongside Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Moises Henriques and James Faulkner.

And while Pattinson and Siddle have recovered to take their places in the Test squad for the two-match series against the Black Caps starting next week and Faulkner's hamstring injury is not serious, the front-line pace attack for the World T20 tournament remains a wide-open field.

Starc, who underwent ankle and foot surgery last December, has already indicated he will not be available to help Australia in their quest for the one remaining major tournament trophy that continues to elude them.  

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Of the seamers who were chosen in the initial 17-man squad for last month's three-match KFC T20 series against India, only John Hastings would appear to have inked his name in the 15 for the WT20 event that will be finalised by selectors tomorrow.

Scott Boland, Shaun Tait and Andrew Tye managed just one wicket between them in the recent T20 series dominated by India's batsmen, and Australia's best-performed seamer in that competition was veteran allrounder Shane Watson. 

WATCH: Watson carries bat for 124* in SCG T20

Fellow allrounder Mitchell Marsh – man of the match in Australia's series-levelling win in Wellington on Saturday night – was not selected for the recent T20 internationals against India and is not convinced he will find a way back into calculations for the WT20 squad.

"Obviously they picked 17 for the Twenty20 series and they've got to cut that to 15 but I haven't really thought about it," Marsh said last night.

"If they (selectors) see me in the best 15 that's great.

"But as an Australian, you just want the best team to go over for a World Cup and try and win."

Even though he has not played a T20 international for more than two years, Test spearhead Josh Hazlewood seems likely to lead the attack in India and Pattinson might also be considered to add some velocity to the line-up provided he emerges unscathed from the coming Test campaign.

Selection chair Rod Marsh has already indicated that leg spinners Cameron Boyce and Adam Zampa are effectively vying for a single berth within the 15-man squad, and Zampa did his prospects no harm in his international debut at Wellington yesterday. 

WATCH: Zampa picks up two wickets on debut

But the 23-year-old conceded today that Australia was unlikely to take two relatively untried leg spinners to the WT20 even though Indian pitches traditionally favour spin bowlers.

"You need to have most bases covered so you'd probably have a wrist finger and a finger spinner, and then you're going to have your allrounders and your batters," Zampa when asked for his thoughts about the make-up of Australia's WT20 squad.

"So to have two wrist spinners in the squad is probably fairly tough work, but I don't know. I'm not a selector.

"Where I've played in India (the pitches) have spun and I played the (Australia A) series in Chennai (last year) and it spun but guys say that if you concentrate on spin too much it might hurt you a little bit.

"The grounds there are quite small and some of the wickets are very flat so you don't know what you're going to get.

"I'm sure it (spin bowling) will play a role but I don't think it will be as much of a role as what people tend to think."

Zampa's ODI debut – in which claimed the prized scalp of NZ's top-ranked batsman Kane Williamson and was an integral part of a stirring Australia win – was crowned by the news he had been signed for $A63,000 by the Rising Pune Supergiants at yesterday's Indian Premier League auction.

Which means that even if the NSW-born leg spinner who is now plying his trade for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield and Matador BBQs One-Day Cup competitions doesn't make the cut for the WT20 tournament, he will still gain invaluable experience on subcontinental pitches.

And that could help fast-track him into Test calculations with Australia scheduled to play Test series in Sri Lanka and India over the next 12 months.

"My old mate Stephen Fleming at the (Melbourne) Stars looked after me there (as coach of the new Pune IPL franchise) so that's exciting," Zampa said today.

"I'm looking forward to that as well it's going to be good playing with (fellow Supergiants signings) Smithy (Steve Smith), Marshy (Mitchell Marsh) and KP (Kevin Pietersen) from the Stars as well – we've got a good crew there.

"And obviously the (opposition) guys that I'll be around as well (such as India T20 captain) MS Dhoni, it's just another stepping stone for me."