Nearly a decade after making his Test bow, Matthew Renshaw will play his first one-day international for Australia on Sunday with confirmation the left-hander will debut alongside allrounder Mitch Owen in the series opener against India.
Matt Short will also return to the ODI side at first-drop as Australia blood a new-look middle order against the format’s number one-ranked side in Perth.
Josh Philippe will take the gloves with first-choice white-ball wicketkeeper Josh Inglis still on the mend from a calf strain, with spin-bowling allrounder Cooper Connolly also slotting into the middle order.
Australia also appear to have resisted the urge to pick four specialist quicks with left-armer Matthew Kuhnemann set to earn his fifth ODI cap as Adam Zampa misses the match for family reasons.
Fast bowlers have dominated all three of the 50-over internationals played at Perth Stadium since it hosted first match in 2018, with Australia bundled out for 140 by Pakistan’s four-pronged pace attack in their most recent ODI at the venue.
Australia were reduced to 6-88 inside 21 overs in that match last November, and captain Mitch Marsh said navigating the new ball looms as a key battle in deciding the outcome of the first ODI.
“Often you see at Perth Stadium it can swing around the new ball and both teams will be looking to do early damage on that wicket,” Marsh said on match eve.
“Across the board in the Big Bash, a lot of the biggest scores are backended.
“So if we get off to a good start, I believe it will be high scoring affair, but getting through the first 10 overs for both teams will be the challenge and maybe where the game is won and lost.”
With Travis Head and Marsh now pencilled in as Australia’s white-ball opening pair, Short’s opportunity will come at No.3 after opening in his previous 10 ODI appearances.
Short missed Australia’s 2-1 series loss to South Africa in August as he recovered from a cartilage fracture in his rib, while he also missed the end of this year’s Champions Trophy campaign with a quad injury.
He returned to the Australian side for the first time since February’s tournament during this month’s T20 tour of New Zealand where he also batted at No.3, posting scores of 29, 2no and 7.
“We know that he opens batting for Victoria and Adelaide Strikers and has opened in T20 cricket around the world,” Marsh said.
“But we see no real difference between opening and batting number three, and we feel comfortable with him batting up there.
“Across the board, in our white-ball teams over the last 12 months, we’ve seen a lot of guys get opportunities and for us, it’s all about (them) coming in and being really clear on their role.”
National selector George Bailey added they had spoken to Short, and others, about the ability to be flexible and perform different roles in Australia’s white-ball teams.
“It’s been a bit of a frustrating winter (for him) as we had him pencilled in to play a lot of cricket and across that journey, we would have seen some different roles at different times,” Bailey said in Perth on Saturday.
“We know he has got some great power and ability at the top … can we build out some skill sets through batting in the middle and finishing?
“The two big key pillars we’ve lost in the one-day team (are) Steve Smith from (three and) four and ‘Maxi’s’ (Glenn Maxwell) gone from seven.
“The beauty of one-day cricket is we’ve got time until the next World Cup and the answer to that might be a bit more transient – the person (might differ with) certain conditions and a certain opposition.
“Over the journey you’re building out for a game where Travis or Mitch aren’t there and you’ve got a couple of guys ready to go, not just to come in and fill a role, but to come in and perform at the top and the bottom.”
Debutant Owen will be another one batting in a different position on Sunday after also bursting onto the scene at the top of the order for Tasmania in one-day cricket last season.
Owen has already enjoyed success in the middle order for Australia’s T20 side after debuting in Jamaica in July and Australia will be hoping he can play a similar role in their 50-over side with Maxwell’s ODI retirement in May leaving a vacancy at No.7.
Both Owen and Renshaw earned their debuts on the back of strong performances for their states in the One-Day Cup, with the Tasmanian right-hander slamming a 48-ball century against South Australia in February.
Renshaw, meanwhile, has dominated the middle order for Queensland one-day side since the start of 2021-22, maintaining an average above 50 while striking at better than a run-a-ball. He finished last summer as the One-Day Cup’s second-highest run-scorer (305 at 50.83).
The pair will debut in front of a huge crowd in Perth on Sunday with fewer than 3000 tickets remaining for the first ODI.
Australia v India ODIs 2025
Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc. Game two onwards: Adam Zampa, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis
India squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal
October 19: First ODI v India, Perth Stadium, Perth, 2:30pm AEDT
October 23: Second ODI v India, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, 2:30pm AEDT
October 25: Third ODI v India, SCG, Sydney, 2:30pm AEDT
All matches live via Kayo Sports and Foxtel
