The Victoria Bitter ODI series between Australia and India, starting on Tuesday will see the debut of two Australian pacers. In a pace-heavy bowling attack, fast bowlers Scott Boland and Joel Paris are all set to make their first baggy green appearance at the WACA Ground in Perth.
Joel Paris, a 23-year-old Perth native, has been hastily called in for the tournament after a number of injuries depleted the Australian side. With speedster Mitchell Johnson retired and Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins injured, the bowling department of the reigning world champions looks somewhat meek.
Paris and Boland will become Australia’s 210th and 211th ODI players. Australia will be fielding two debutants on the same ODI side after three years after Kane Richardson and Ben Cutting had made their international debut against Sri Lanka in Adelaide on January 13, 2013.
Steve Smith, the Australian skipper, said that the Perth player impressed the selectors with his left arm bowling at home competitions, which made them overlook Adelaide pacer Kane Richardson’s prospects.
"Traditionally we like to play a left-armer here who can use the breeze and move the ball. So hopefully he'll be able to do that for us tomorrow. He's been very impressive in the Matador Cup in the last couple of years and in the Big Bash this year.
We look forward to seeing how he goes. It's a good opportunity for him and some other young quicks around the country. So it's an exciting time for Joel to make his debut at the WACA," the Australian skipper said at the pre-match captain’s press conference.
Victorian pacer Scott Boland had been previously named in the Australian side in their Boxing day and New Year’s Tests. Smith considers the right arm bowler an asset during the death overs.
"His death bowling has been very impressive," Smith said of Boland."I think he hits a yorker as well as anyone at the moment. He's got a bit of pace to him so hopefully he can hurry up the Indian batters a bit.
“He's been impressive in the nets the past couple of weeks. All of our fast bowlers in this game can perform a role at the death. It might be an instance of who's bowling well on the day and a bit of a gut feel for who's going to bowl the last couple of overs,” the 26 year old skipper added.
Besides a heavy pace bowling side with the likes of Josh Hazelwood, James Faulkner and Mitchell Marsh, the team down under will also have David Warner, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell and the captain himself to lead the batting charge.
However, Shaun Marsh will be missing out. He is likely to get a chance later in the series with David Warner expecting to return home for the birth of his second child.
“He's been really impressive and hopefully every time he goes back (to state cricket) he can continue to dominate, keep scoring big runs and to put his name up there," Smith said on Marsh.
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