‘Extraordinary’: Josh Hazlewood becomes 28th cricketer to captain Australia in men’s ODIs

Australia has unveiled a new ODI captain in a bombshell move, with Pat Cummins rested for the second match against England.

Josh Hazlewood has become the 28th cricketer to captain Australia in men’s ODIs, chosen to lead the national side for Saturday’s match against England at the SCG.

Incumbent skipper Pat Cummins, announced as Aaron Finch’s replacement last month, has been rested for the second ODI in Sydney, with Hazlewood picked as captain ahead of former skippers Alex Carey and Steve Smith.

Watch Australia v England. Every ODI live and ad-break free in play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

Carey led the Australian 50-over side in the West Indies last year, while Smith captained the Test team during last summer’s Ashes series. But despite the duo’s prior experience, Hazlewood has been given his first opportunity to lead his country.

The New South Wales paceman has never captained a professional cricket match, but was named vice-captain of the Test side in 2018 following the ball-tampering saga.

“I‘m standing in (for) this game, and hopefully it is a nice and seamless transition,” Hazlewood explained at the toss.

“Pat was happy to have a rest with the amount of cricket coming up. Just a nice little, ‘You’ll captain next game’. It’s a wider leadership group, so just standing in for this game.”

Cummins became Australia’s 27th men’s ODI captain on Thursday, leading the hosts to a six-wicket victory over England at Adelaide Oval.

Extraordinary. Cummins rests. Hazlewood steps up as captain NOT Smith (who is vc for game). Cam Green goes home to prepare for Test. Understandable from a cricket point of view. Interesting if you are a rights holder. https://t.co/Dh36W89Kzn

— Peter Lalor (@plalor) November 19, 2022

Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah & Josh Hazlewood captaining their countries in the same year further emphasises how the cricket world is finally acknowledging that fast bowlers have always been born leaders #AusvEng

— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) November 19, 2022

“I don‘t expect Pat to play every one-day game in the lead up to the World Cup,” chair of selectors George Bailey said last month.

“We’ve got a number of players within the group who can assume the leadership should they need to. So I expect we might see two or three guys taking the leadership at some stage.

“We are moving away from this concept of a captain taking over and their leadership being all encompassing. It‘s very much a collaboration at times.”

West Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh also replaces young gun Cameron Green in the starting XI for the second ODI.

Meanwhile, Moeen Ali will lead England’s 50-over side for the first time on Saturday, replacing wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, who has also been rested following the triumphant T20 World Cup campaign.

The first ball is scheduled for 2.20pm AEDT.

LIVE BLOG: Australia vs England second ODI

Josh Hazlewood of Australia. Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images

Australian XI

David Warner, Travis Head, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wk), Mitch Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood (c)

England XI

Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Dawid Malan, James Vince, Sam Billings (wk), Moeen Ali (c), Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, David Willey, Adil Rashid

Originally published as ‘Extraordinary’: Josh Hazlewood becomes 28th cricketer to captain Australia in men’s ODIs