Australia may have to replace up to three players from their original squad, including their skipper
Cummins 'heavily unlikely' to feature in Champions Trophy
Pat Cummins is "heavily unlikely" to lead Australia in their first major 50-over event since lifting the World Cup, continuing an ODI captaincy merry-go-round ahead of the Champions Trophy.
Days after being revealed as the face of a promotional campaign for Prime Video (who have the Australian broadcast rights for all ICC events until 2027), Cummins' involvement in the ODI tournament beginning next month has all but been ruled out by coach Andrew McDonald.
Australia's Test and one-day skipper is managing an ankle issue after playing all five Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series and has been on parental leave for the birth of his second child during the tour of Sri Lanka.
Mitch Marsh, the T20 captain who also stood in for Cummins during Australia's limited-overs tour of the UK last year, has already been ruled out of the Champions Trophy with a back injury with the Indian Premier League shaping as a more realistic first tournament back for the allrounder.
McDonald said Steve Smith or Travis Head are the two options selectors are considering to take the reins for the ICC's rebooted Champions Trophy, being held for the first time in eight years and which will see matches played in Pakistan and the UAE.
It continues something of a revolving door for Australia's ODI captaincy; if Head gets the nod (and captains in the upcoming two-ODI series in Sri Lanka), he will be Australia's fifth captain in six matches.
Both Marsh and Smith have led the side since the 2023 World Cup triumph, while Josh Inglis also stood in for a one-dayer that Cummins missed against Pakistan last summer.
Josh Hazlewood is also out for the Sri Lanka series due to a calf strain and remains under a cloud for the Champions Trophy.
"Pat Cummins hasn't been able to resume any type of bowling so he's heavily unlikely, so that would mean that we do need a captain," McDonald told SEN.
"Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two that we've been having conversations with while we've been building out that Champions Trophy team along with Pat back home. They'll be the two that we look at for that leadership post.
"They're the two obvious ones. Steve has done a great job here in the (first) Test match. He's done some good work in one-day international cricket across the journey as well. So it's between those two.
"But, as I said, Patty is hugely unlikely, which is a bit of shame, and we've also got Josh Hazlewood who is battling (injury) at the moment. So that medical information will land over the next couple of days and we'll be able to shore that up and let everyone know the direction."
It leaves Australia needing to replace up to three players from the 15-man squad they named last month. The ICC's deadline for final squads is next Wednesday (February 12), after which changes will require ICC Technical Committee approval.
"I actually haven't given it too much thought," Smith said today about the possibility of leading Australia in the ICC event.
"We'll wait and see what happens with that squad … and then we'll think about one-day cricket after that."
The potential absences of Cummins and Hazlewood may open the door for the likes of Spencer Johnson and Tanveer Sangha, both of whom could feature in next week's ODIs against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
Sean Abbott and Xavier Bartlett, left out of the original 15-man squad for Nathan Ellis, could also be in the mix. Beau Webster could make his ODI debut, especially with incumbent fellow allrounder Aaron Hardie having only recently resumed bowling due to a quad issue.
Ricky Ponting has suggested Mitchell Owen could come into calculations to replace Marsh in the Champions Trophy squad, though the BBL14 final hero is averaging 11.72 with the bat and 54.60 with the ball from 15 List A matches.
2025 ICC Men's Champions Trophy
Australia's Group B fixtures
February 22: Australia v England, Lahore (8pm AEDT)
February 25: Australia v South Africa, Rawalpindi (8pm AEDT)
February 28: Afghanistan v Australia, Lahore (8pm AEDT)
March 4: Semi-final 1, Dubai (8pm AEDT)
March 5: Semi-final 2, Lahore (8pm AEDT)
March 9: Final, Lahore or Dubai (8pm AEDT)
Australia preliminary squad: Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa