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Pacer Sean Abbott has been called up to Australia's squad for their Test series against the West Indies, kickstarting on June 25 in Barbados as part of the new World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle.
The 33-year-old quick is a replacement for Brendan Doggett, who is ruled out due to a minor hip injury. Doggett was a travelling reserve for the World Test Championship Final, and will now return back home, as per the ICC. Having played 28 ODIs and 20 T20Is for Australia and taken a total of 59 scalps, Abbott has yet to make his Test debut, though he was part of the red-ball group that toured Sri Lanka earlier this year and on home soil during the Border-Gavaskar Test series. Australia is taking the flight to Barbados for the first of three Tests, followed by matches in Grenada (July 3) and Jamaica (July 12), the latter being the West Indies' first-ever day-night Test match. The side is also sweating on the status of Steve Smith, who faced a compound finger dislocation suffered on the third day at Lord's WTC final, leaving his status for the first Test under doubt. Despite the sickening blow, Smith avoided a break in the bone, which would likely have required surgery, and may be able to play on with a splint as part of his recovery. "It just split the skin and dislocated it, which made me feel pretty ill at that stage," Smith said after the defeat to South Africa as quoted by the ICC. "I think I am in a splint for eight weeks now and may be able to play with it in a couple of weeks, so it will depend on my functionality and what I am able to do, but it is probably the best result I could have hoped for," he added. (ANI)
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