Travis Head returns as Australia announce squad for England ODIs

Travis Head returned to Australia's One-Day International (ODI) squad as Cricket Australia announced their squad on Tuesday for the upcoming series against England.

Australia are scheduled to host England in a three-match ODI series, starting next week. The T20I series between both sides ended just before the T20 World Cup went underway Down Under last month. Jos Buttler and Co sealed the series 2-0 with the final T20I being washed away by rain.

The ODI series will begin on Nov. 17 at Adelaide Oval. The second and third ODIs will be played on Nov. 19 and Nov. 20 in Sydney and Melbourne respectively.

Head, who also bowls off-spin, last played for Australia during their Sri Lanka and Pakistan tours earlier this year between March and July. Head, who missed the series against Zimbabwe and New Zealand to be with his partner for the birth of their first child, is all set to take the recently retired Aaron Finch's place in the ODI squad. The upcoming ODI series against England will also mark Pat Cummins' first assignment as the 50-over skipper of the Australian national team.

Even though Australia have preferred managing the workload of their three first-choice fast bowlers - Mitchell Starc, Cummins and Josh Hazlewood - in bilateral assignments, the trio has been picked to play both the series following their early exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup.

Australia's batting line-up goes down as low as No. 8, a strategy that has seen Australia use several all-rounders in their side such as Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Agar and even Marnus Labuschagne. The five-time World Cup winners will hope that the strategy pays off considering the elite tournament is next year in India.

"When you get to a World Cup you want to have a couple of ways of trying to win a tournament. At this stage we expect that India will be reasonably good at batting wickets for that World Cup – so looking at different ways of being able to exploit a longer batting line-up and some pretty handy all-round skill sets with some of those bowlers.

"That's obviously an option. We've been talking about trying to play that team for 12 or 18 months and clearly, it relies a lot on the fitness and health of a number of players. You can throw Ashton Agar into that mix as well, in terms of a bit of extra batting … you've got some options there to keep batting deep," selection chief George Bailey told reporters on Tuesday.

Australia's ODI squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

Australia vs West Indies: Marcus Harris returns to Test squad

Meanwhile, Australia also announced their Test squad for a two-match Test series, which will take place after the 50-over games against England.

In the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, Australia played a T20I series against West Indies as well at home, which the hosts clean-swept with a 2-0 victory.

There were no real surprises in the 13-man squad Cricket Australia picked for those two Tests against West Indies, with the first one beginning on Nov. 30 in Perth. The second Test will be played from Dec. 8 in Adelaide.

Opening batsman Marcus Harris, who wasn't part of the senior squad in Sri Lanka, has made a comeback following his impressive performances in County Cricket and in the Sheffield Shield. While he is likely to be the reserved batter, Scott Boland is expected to be the backup pacer to the first-choice trio.

"After some larger squads for the sub-continent tours over the winter, we have returned to a very similar squad to that which performed strongly last summer in comprehensively winning the Ashes. Marcus Harris retains his place after continuing to perform for Gloucestershire in the English County competition and a strong start to the Marsh Sheffield Shield season," added Bailey.

Australia's Test squad: Pat Cummins (C), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner