Maxwell overlooked as Australia include Lynn

Glenn Maxwell was surprisingly left out of Australia’s squad for the one-day international series against England as Chris Lynn was included.

Maxwell, who averages 32.30 with a strike rate of 123.93 with the bat in 80 ODIs for Australia and also has 45 wickets, was overlooked by selectors in the 14-man squad for the five-game series.

Australia national selector Trevor Hohns said the 29-year-old still had a future in the format, but needed to find greater consistency.

“No one is in any doubt about Glenn’s ability or his potential to produce match-winning contributions with the bat,” he said.

“What we have wanted from him is more consistency but in his past 20 matches in this format he has averaged 22 and we need more than that from a player in the side’s batting engine room.

“Glenn is still absolutely in our thoughts but for this series we have decided to look again at Chris Lynn, who is now back playing once more after the shoulder injury that hampered him when we picked him against Pakistan in this format 12 months ago.

“He has been one of the most feared players at domestic level in limited-overs cricket in the past couple of years and we want to see if he can convert that domestic form to the international stage.”

Lynn, 27, has played just one ODI for Australia – in January 2017 – and has been troubled by a shoulder injury.

Wicketkeeper Tim Paine, who made a shock Test return during the Ashes, was also named and could make his first ODI appearance since 2011.

The opening ODI of the series is in Melbourne on January 14.

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Patrick Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

You can catch every ball of the upcoming ODI series between Australia and England on Macquarie Radio’s Summer of Cricket.