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Australia chair of selectors George Bailey weighed in on the exclusion of experienced stars Glenn Maxell and Peter Handscomb from the squad for the two-match Test tour of Sri Lanka.
Reports suggested the return of Maxwell and Handscomb in Australia's tour of the sub-continent. However, youngsters Cooper Connolly and Nathan McSweeney were preferred over the experienced duo. With Australia having the option to experiment more after confirming their trip to London for the World Test Championship final, a couple of youngsters could get the opportunity to have a taste of the Test format. "We are excited about the opportunity ahead for the squad members who are at the start of their Test careers to continue to grow their games in subcontinent conditions where we have a number of important tours in coming years," Bailey said as quoted from The Sydney Morning Herald. If the Sydney Test against India ended in any other result apart from Australia's victory, then the Baggy Greens would have had to fight for victory in at least one Test at Galle. However, Australia's victory in Sydney opened the doors for many stars to leave their mark in the red-ball format. Handscomb was called in Sydney and he tuned up his preparations with the prospect of travelling to Sri Lanka. It wasn't meant to be for Handscomb with Australia deciding to back youngsters with an eye on the future. The decision must have left Handscomb and even Maxwell wondering did something changed after Sydney. However, Bailey assured that the outcome in Sydney had no impact on the decision made by selectors for the Sri Lanka tour. "No. I know there's been a lot of speculation around that. We view every Test tour and Test match as really important. For us, it was more around structuring up two or three different ways of what we thought the first XI may look like ... once we were sort of clear on the direction we thought that first XI may take, then the squad sort of took shape after that," Bailey added. (ANI)
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