Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Renshaw were left out of Australia's squad for the World Test Championship final against India scheduled from June 7-11 at The Oval. According to ICC regulations, teams have to submit 15-member squads as a norm and Australia had named a 17-man touring party for the Ashes series that follows the WTC final. As a result, Marsh and Renshaw find themselves out of the reckoning for the summit clash.Renshaw's exclusion from the WTC squad indicates that Marcus Harris continues to be the first choice backup as far as the opening spots go.
It also comes as a relief for David Warner who has been short of runs in recent red-ball assignments. Given the veteran opener's previous records in England, he is bound to face an acid test this time around but head coach Andrew McDonald came out in strong support of the left-hander." We're optimistic with what Dave's got left, we picked him in the squad and we feel he's going to play a really significant part in the Ashes and the World Test Championship final," McDonald told SEN on Wednesday." That's why he's on the plane. We think he's got some good games left in him. "The biggest boost for Australia is the return of Josh Hazlewood who was declared fit last week after a lengthy hiatus due to injury. The 32-year-old, who had injured himself during the South Africa series at home in January, was subsequently ruled out of action for the next four months. Hazlewood briefly recovered from his rehabilitation programme and had joined Royal Challengers Bangalore for the Indian Premier League but was then forced to leave midway through the season due to insufficient recovery progress.
