Spencer Johnson ruled out of England, Scotland T20Is

Australia pacer Spencer Johnson has been ruled out of the T20 international (T20I) series against England and Scotland due to a side strain injury. Sean Abbott, who was due to play only the One-Day International (ODI) against England, has been added to Australia's T20I squad as well. Johnson, who is currently plying his trade with the Oval Invincibles in The Hundred, has not had the best of tournaments, having picked up just a couple of wickets from six matches.

However, he did impress against the Northern Super Chargers, where he finished with 1/10 in his 20 deliveries. Johnson is seen as a long-term T20 option for Australia and a potential replacement for Mitchell Starc when the time arrives. Starc has been rested from the T20I series, but will feature in the ODIs against England, while Pat Cummins has been rested from the entire UK tour. Josh Hazlewood though has been named in both the ODI and T20I squads.

Abbott, Big Bash League's (BBL) leading wicket-taker, has played just 15 T20Is so far. He has had a good campaign in The Hundred, where he has managed to get nine wickets in seven matches for the Birmingham Phoenix.

Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie and Marcus Stoinis are some of the other pace bowling options at Australia's disposal in the T20I squad.

Johnson, a left-arm pacer, will hope to be fit in time for the domestic season for South Australia. He may get a chance to add to his T20I caps when Australia play three games against Pakistan at home.  

The squad has been picked with one eye on the T20 World Cup 2026, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. 

Australia will kick off their UK tour with a three-match T20I series against Scotland. The matches will be played on September 4, 6, and 7 at the Grange in Edinburgh. They will then move to England with the T20I series beginning on September 11. The tour will end on September 29 after the ODI series.

Australia T20I squad for England, Scotland tours:

Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

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