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Australia has won the toss and will bowl first against Zimbabwe at Riverway Stadium in Townsville and the home side is set to welcome several returning stars back into the lineup.
Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa have returned to the fold, but one notable omission is Marnus Labuschagne.
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However, skipper Aaron Finch noted Labuschagne’s absence is due to the team implementing something a little different.
“The reasoning behind Marnus is we’re just going with an all-rounder-heavy side,” Finch told reporters in Townsville on Saturday.
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“Two quicks plus Zampa and Cameron Green as the fourth genuine bowler. And then using Marsh, Stoinis, Maxwell as our fifth bowler effectively.
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“It’s a way of lengthening our batting, and I think it’s important we keep trying to juggle the structure of the team around a bit over the next little while.
“We don’t want to get pigeonholed into playing in one particular structure of team.”
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Zimbabwe will be without captain Craig Ervine who misses out with a hamstring injury, with bowlers Tenda Chatara and Wellington Masakadza also absent due to a collarbone fracture and shoulder injury respectively.
But the visitors will be buoyed by the presence of star all-rounder Sikandar Raza, who has three centuries in his last six ODIs.
Raza has the fourth most ODI runs of players from Test-playing nations and will have to be at his best to help Zimbabwe to a shock result over the Aussies.
However, it is Zimbabwe who won the last meeting between the two sides back in 2014 and will no doubt be buoyed by that.
Australia XI: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steve Smith, Alex Carey (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
Zimbabwe Squad: Ryan Burl, Regis Chakabva (c), Bradley Evans, Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Tony Munyonga, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Victor Nyauchi, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams.
Follow all the action from Australia’s match against Zimbabwe in our LIVE BLOG below!
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