Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood likely to miss Australia’s Champions Trophy campaign

Australia’s Champions Trophy campaign is set to be dealt a massive double blow, with both Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood likely to be ruled out due to injury.

The Champions Trophy begins on February 19 and Aussie coach Andrew McDonald has revealed that Cummins is “hugely unlikely” to appear, while his fast bowling partner Hazlewood is also “battling”.

“That will unfold in the next couple of days,” McDonald said on SEN.

“At the moment 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.

“Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two (captaincy options) we’ve been having conversations with as 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. We’ve got to get through the next Test match as well to see where everyone is at.”

He said Smith had done a “great job” in the Test match in Sri Lanka and had also done some good work as captain in some one-day international matches “across the journey”.

“It’ll be between those two (but) Paddy is hugely unlikely which is a bit of a shame and we’ve got also Josh Hazlewood who is battling at the moment,” he said.

“That medical information will land over the next couple of days. We’ll be able to shore that up and let everyone know the direction.”

Hazlewood missed half of the Border Gavaskar Trophy after suffering a calf injury and his recovery is behind schedule.

While Cummins carried an ankle issue throughout the same series.

Cummins was named as captain of the 15-man Champions Trophy squad when it was unveiled last month.

The consisted of: Cummins (c), Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Meanwhile, Aussie legend Ricky Ponting says Big Bash final hero Mitch Owen should be added to the squad.

“I’m not sure which way they’ll go to be honest,” Ponting said on The ICC Review.

“I don’t know if you guys have been watching the BBL (Big Bash League), but we’ve had one young kid that’s just emerged out of nowhere, a kid called Mitch Owen, who has opened the batting for the Hobart Hurricanes.

“He’s also an all-rounder, probably more suited (as a replacement for Mitch Marsh).

“I mean, Mitch Marsh has batted in the top three in one-day cricket, mostly in the last couple of years anyway.

“Mitch Owen has opened the batting in T20 cricket and opened the batting for Tasmania in the (domestic ODI competition) Marsh Cup this season.

“Look, honestly, I’d be surprised if it is him, but I think the selectors now know that there is a really high-quality replacement there.”

Teams can make changes to the squad up until a week before the first game. They can also make changes after that date but they have to get approval from the ICC.

Australia are in Group B with Afghanistan, England and South Africa. All their round robin matches will be played in Pakistan at Lahore and Rawalpindi.