No Cummins, Starc or Hazlewood: Australia Back New Faces for England Series, Mitchell Marsh Named White-Ball Captain

Sitting on the SCG Hill once, I counted when fast bowling thunder feels loudest. The answer came quickly: when Pat Cummins walks in for the third over of his spell, Mitchell Starc has found his rhythm, and Josh Hazlewood stands near square leg waiting for one thing — the batsman losing his balance just slightly. This trio is the part of cricket you cannot read in a scorecard but can hear in the sound of the ground.

Now imagine that sound suddenly fading. The squad Australia has named for the home series against England does not include those three names. Across three ODIs (November 13–18) and five T20Is, Australia will take the field without its most experienced pace trio. This is not an injury story — it is a deliberate plan.

This series is an audition for Australia, not a full-strength contest. In selection language it is called "rest", and that word itself carries a message: Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood are being preserved for the Test calendar ahead. Home Tests against New Zealand, a five-Test tour of India, the 150th anniversary Test in Melbourne, and then the Ashes — that sequence is so heavy that no board would want to grind its premier fast bowlers through a white-ball series.

Chairman of selectors George Bailey has himself framed this series as an opportunity for players who have had recent international exposure. Read the new squad list and a clear pattern emerges: Australia is stress-testing its white-ball depth. Mahli Beardman, Jack Edwards, Liam Scott, Ollie Peake, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Nikhil Chaudhary and Joel Davies — several of them made white-ball debuts only recently. Selectors now want to convert that recent experience into extended opportunity.

The most interesting signal comes from wicketkeeping. Lachlan Shaw and Sam Harper are the only uncapped players in this squad — and both are wicketkeepers. Alex Carey is in the ODI squad only. This is not coincidence. It is a plan to examine the next line of wicketkeeping, much like a club giving its second-choice keeper a run against the first-team bowlers.

The gap between the ODI and T20 squads is a story in itself. Travis Head, Alex Carey, Matt Renshaw, Josh Inglis, Cooper Connolly and Cameron Green are all in the ODI squad but not the T20 squad. The meaning is clear: Australia is taking ODIs a little more seriously right now and giving youth a chance in T20s. The 2027 ODI World Cup — to be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia — is the real target, and this series is the first concrete step in that direction.

Mitchell Marsh will captain both formats. An all-rounder now becoming the face of white-ball cricket is a statement in itself. His statistics are not available in this analysis, but the dual captaincy suggests selectors see him not merely as captain for this series but as a long-term leadership option.

Here is the point the average viewer often misses. The absence of Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood does not weaken this series — it exposes the real pressure on Australia's next line of fast bowling. Questions have persisted for years about the depth of Australia's white-ball bowling, and when the big three are missing, that question shows up plainly on the field. England's batting will try to exploit the opening.

In my experience, series like this in Australia create a strange situation. Spectators come to see big names, but when they are absent, the sound of the match changes — less roar, more questions. That question is the real story of this series.

But there is another angle fewer people notice. This series shows that the international cricket schedule has now reached its limit. When a board has to rest its biggest names for a home white-ball series against a team like England, it is not just a selection matter — it is a failure of the entire calendar. Series like the India tour and the Ashes are commercially more valuable, and the board is allocating its resources accordingly.

An old assumption needs challenging here. The common view is that resting big players reduces the importance of bilateral series. The truth is that money in cricket follows attention, and attention has now shifted toward the Test calendar and ICC events. This series against England matters as much for cricket as it does commercially — not that much. Even if Australia loses this series, the selection strategy will not be proven wrong — provided the big three look fresh and sharp in the India tour and the Ashes.

This is where I feel some concern. Fast bowlers' workload management looks very clean on paper, but on the field it is a risky bet. If Cummins or Starc struggle with any injury before the India tour, this rest policy will come under fire. And if Australia suffers a heavy defeat against England with a young attack, media and fan pressure could bury George Bailey's "opportunity" argument.

For me, the biggest lesson is that this series' results must be read in the context of its selection. If young fast bowlers buckle against England, that is not a failure of Australian cricket's depth — it is the first real test of that depth. And if names like Beardman or Fraser-McGurk win a match or two, the story will flip instantly: "Even without Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood, Australia is not afraid."

That December evening is still fresh in my mind when I watched India fold for 36 in Adelaide and silence fell over the stadium. That day I learned that cricket's real story is never on the scoreboard — it lives in the empty seats filled in expectation of a big name. Those seats will be full for this series, but without Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood. The question is whether Australian spectators will listen to that new voice with the same attention they gave the old trio.

Next time you sit on the SCG Hill, listen for a moment. If you do not hear that same old thunder — remember, cricket has always found its next voice on its own.