Mark Steketee has replaced pacer Michael Neser in the Australia squad for the Pakistan tour. Australia will tour Pakistan for the first time since 1998 for three Test matches, three One-Day Internationals, and one T20 International. Mitchell Marsh, Josh Inglis and Mitchell Swepson have all been named in an 18-man squad for the historic three-Test tour of Pakistan, Australia’s first visit to the cricket-mad nation in nearly 25 years. Neser, who is also from Queensland, was ruled out after being laid low by a side strain in a Marsh One-Day Cup game in Brisbane.
The uncapped Steketee was part of Australia's extended squad for the tour of South Africa in 2021 before it was eventually called off. Steketee, who made his first-class debut versus Tasmania in February 2015, has bagged 182 wickets at 25.67 in first-class cricket. He has also snared 29 scalps at an impressive average of 16.31 in this season's Sheffield Shield. Meanwhile, South Australia pace bowler Brendan Doggett will be the standby for the three-match Test rubber. Doggett has 11 wickets at 21.45 in first-class cricket this season. The pace bowler also was a part of the Queensland set-up that won the Sheffield Shield in 2020-21 before moving over to South Australia in May last year. Incidentally, New South Wales' Sean Abbott is also a standby for the tour. There are no major surprises in the squad led by Pat Cummins after Australia's dominant Ashes victory. Opener Marcus Harris, who lost his spot to Usman Khawaja for the Hobart Test, holds on to his place in the squad, while experienced fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has overcome a side injury that ruled him out of the final four Tests against England.
