Australia squad named, Henriques to debut in Chennai Test

Moises Henriques will make his Test debut on Friday against India.

Chennai, Feb 20 (IANS) All-rounder Moises Henriques is set to make his debut for Australia against India in the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test match commencing here on Friday as Cricket Australia (CA) announced the squad today.

The team led by Michael Clarke is, however, subject to change before the toss.

In a radical selection, Australia will play four pacers on a spin-friendly M.A. Chidambaram pitch here. The wicket is clay-like in appearance, and is so conducive to spin that the hosts are considering deploying four spinners.

The 26-year-old Henriques, Australia’s 432nd Test player, will be part of a pace quartet comprising Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson, who was given the nod over Mitchell Johnson.

This leaves Nathan Lyon with the daunting task of taking on Indian trio Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh as Australia’s only recognised spinner.

Henriques claimed 1/30 in the recent tour match against India A, clinching the prized scalp of Gautam Gambhir, and 4/12 against the Indian Board President’s XI to open the tour. His call-up comes at the expense of Maxwell and Usman Khawaja, whose frustrating wait for a return to the Test side continues.

With Shane Watson unable to bowl, the Australians wanted a fourth seam option and brought in Henriques. The Portugal-born averages 30.61 with the bat and 27.07 with the ball from 39 First Class games.

In other selection news, opener Dave Warner will partner Ed Cowan despite a thumb complaint, while Clarke has recovered well from a slight hamstring problem.

Following is the Australia squad: Michael Clarke (captain), Ed Cowan, David Warner, Phil Hughes, Shane Watson, Matthew Wade (wicketkeeper), Moises Henriques, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon. 12th man: Glenn Maxwell.