Left-arm spinner Stephen O’Keefe has been named has been announced as the replacement for the injured Josh Hazlewood for the second Test against Bangladesh. Hazlewood had suffered a side strain while bowling on the 3rd day of the first Test in Mirpur. He would also miss the ODI series against India scheduled to be played next month.
O’Keefe was ignored for selection before and the preference was given to the other left-arm spinner Ashton Agar. The selection of O’Keefe perhaps was influenced by the effectiveness of the spinners on the Bangladeshi pitches.
Trevor Hohns, the chairman of the selection panel reckons that the two seamers in the squads are sufficient for the next Test. “With Jackson Bird in the squad we are comfortable with our fast-bowling options for the second Test and have elected to add an additional spinner given the conditions we are likely to face in Chittagong,” Hohns said.
Stephen O’Keefe was a part of the Australian squad earlier this year when the team had traveled to India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He played a pivotal role in his side’s victory in the first Test in Pune. He had bagged a total of 12 wickets in the match with 6 in each innings. He was adjudged the Man of the Match as the visitors defeated India.
Australia stunned by Bangladesh
On Wednesday, Bangladesh pulled off a stunning victory against the Aussies, which was their first in the history against that opposition. Shakib Al Hasan proved to be the scriptwriter as he scored 84 runs in the first innings and then, picked up five wicket hauls in both the innings.
Chasing 265 to win, Australia fell short by 20 runs as David Warner’s century went in vain. The next match of the series, to be played on September 4, is expected to be a cracker as the visitors will come hard to level the series while the hosts would leave no stones unturned in trying to enforce a whitewash.
