Australia have named a 16-member squad for the two-Test tour to Sri Lanka in January-February with Steve Smith as captain. (More Cricket News)
Pat Cummins will miss the tour on paternity leave while also nursing an ankle issue that was managed throughout the summer.
Josh Hazlewood will again miss out with an injury that kept him out of the latter part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, while Mitchell Marsh has been dropped.
Cricket Australia has stacked up the squad with spin with just three seamers in Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland and Sean Abbott travelling.
Australia squad for Sri Lanka Tests: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
"Sri Lanka is a challenging and exciting place to tour given the different conditions players may be presented with. This squad provides several ways to structure the XI depending on what type of wickets we may encounter in each match," George Bailey was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au
Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann, have been picked to support Nathan Lyon in the spin department, while 21-year-old all-rounder Cooper Connolly has been selected along with Nathan McSweeney, who was dropped for Sam Konstas in the India series.
Hazlewood and Marsh will focus on their preparation for the ICC Champions Trophy which will be played after the Sri Lanka Test series.
