Australia drop pacer Mitchell Johnson for Hobart Test

By Jamie Pearce

HOBART, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) December 13, 2012: The National Selection Panel (at the Cricket Australia (CA) decided on Thursday to rest fast bowler Mitchell Johnson for the first Test match against Sri Lanka starting from Friday at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

Although, the Australian selectors picked up three seamers for the Hobart Test where experts are anticipating a lively wicket, Mitchell Johnson failed to find his name in the final list of players for the first Test.

Australian team consists of Michael Clarke (captain), David Warner, Ed Cowan, Phil Hughes, Shane Watson, Mike Hussey, Matthew Wade, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Ben Hilfenhaus, and Nathan Lyon.

Aussie skipper Michael Clarke announced the team here according to which Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle, and Mitchell Starc will constitute a strong Australian fast bowling attack while offspinner Nathan Lyon will support them with the change of pace as per the requirements.

Mitchell Johnson, who has also won ICC Cricketer of the Year Award in 2009, joined the national side after a long time in the Perth Test against South Africa which the home team lost by 309 runs but the left-armer is still part of the plans as he was retained as 12^th man for the Hobart Test.

Talking at a news conference here, Michael Clarke said of Johnson’s exclusion, "Obviously a tough selection getting 12 down to 11, especially with the way that Mitchell bowled in Perth, but this is the team we've selected for this test match. At the end of the day you've got to do what's best for the Australian team, you have to pick the best 11 players to help you win the test match. It's a nice problem to have when you've got 12 players that really want to play and have performed well, but unfortunately someone has to miss. Mitchell will be fine, he'll have to work hard and wait for another opportunity and try to grab it with both hands."

Both Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle were not part of the Australian playing eleven in the Perth Test while Mitchell Starc made his Test debut against the world’s number one Test side where he captured six wickets for 154 runs.

Clarke spoke high of the 22-year-old left-arm pacer. He said, “For me, I'm not looking at the Ashes at all. The reason that Starc is there is because he's been next in line in the queue for a while. He's performed really well in the shorter form of the game for Australia. He got one test in Perth and got six-for and 70-odd with the bat so that's not a bad start as well."

While Australia will be without services of their former legendary skipper Ricky Ponting who announced his Test retirement after Perth Test, Sri Lankans are also going through a transition phase as their skipper Mahela Jayawardene has announced to give up captaincy after the current Australia tour.

Sri Lanka have never defeated Australia in a Test match in Australia but the home side did lose to New Zealand when the last time they played in Hobart.

The three-match Test series will also have matches in Melbourne from December 26 and in Sydney from January 3, 2013.