Champions Trophy 2025: Australia captain Steve Smith “not worried” about pace trio’s absence

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Champions Trophy 2025: Australia captain Steve Smith “not worried” about pace trio’s absence

Stand-in captain Steve Smith says he is “not worried” about the absence of Australia’s three key fast bowlers for their Champions Trophy opener against England on Saturday.

Skipper Pat Cummins and fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood are out of the tournament with injuries while left-armer Mitchell Starc pulled out of the squad for personal reasons.

It will be the first time none of the the famous pace trio have featured at a major white-ball tournament for 14 years.

“It’s a little bit different,” Smith said. “I’ve played for 10-plus years with those guys.

“We’re missing a few of our gun fast bowlers but we’re not worried about that, we’re thinking about what we’ve got here and the opportunity those guys have.”

Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc have 525 one-day international wickets between them. They were all part of Australia’s 2015 and 2023 World Cup wins and have featured in the past five Ashes series.

In their place the attack will likely be led by 30-year-old seamer Nathan Ellis, the only other pace bowler selected in the squad before the withdrawals.

Left-arm quick Spencer Johnson, seamer Sean Abbott and left-armer Ben Dwarshuis have since been added.

England captain Jos Buttler said he is still expecting a “really tough challenge”.

“The three guys have been a real pillar of success for Australia for a long ******* of time so naturally they’ll be a miss for their team,” he said.

“But there’s some top players to step into their shoes as well who have performed very well over time.”

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