Wade to lead Australia in Bangladesh

Australia on Monday named wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade captain for the five-match Twenty20 series against Bangladesh in the absence of the injured Aaron Finch.

Finch aggravated a knee injury in the lead-up to the recent T20 series in the West Indies that Australia lost 4-1, and did not travel to Bangladesh.

Wade led Australia against India in December when Finch was injured. He has also captained Victoria, Tasmania and the Hobart Hurricanes.

He said he was optimistic after Australia recovered from the T20 drubbing to beat the West Indies 2-1 in the ODI series.

Wade will lead a depleted side that is missing Steve Smith, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell.

Australia will also be without fast bowler Riley Meredith, who suffered a side strain and was ruled out of the series on Monday.

Young Tasmanian paceman Nathan Ellis has been brought into the squad.

McDermott recovers

Batsman Ben McDermott, however, has recovered from the ankle injury he suffered having crashed into sideline advertising boards in Barbados.

Australia will play five T20s against Bangladesh at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium starting Tuesday behind closed doors.

Bangladesh has never won a T20 match against Australia.

The squads:

Bangladesh: Mahmudullah Riyad (Capt.), Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Shakib Al Hasan, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Mithun, Taijul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain and Rubel Hossain.

Australia: Matthew Wade (Capt.), Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye and Adam Zampa.

Travelling reserves: Nathan Ellis, Tanveer Sangha.