Hopes and Harwood called up

James Hopes and Shane Harwood have been called up to Australia’s Twenty20 squad due to injury and illness to Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson.

Johnson has suffered a stomach strain, while Lee is suffering from a chest infection.

Australian team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said Lee’s illness had come about over the past 24 hours and he will assessed by a doctor later today.

Kountouris also commented on Johnson’s injury saying he has a minor abdominal strain which occurred yesterday and it has been decided to rest him to avoid any chance of a further injury.

Harwood is a fast bowler from Victoria and has had an impressive start with the ball in Twenty20 domestic cricket having taken three wickets from two games at 11 and a low economy rate of 4.71.

Harwood has also impressed in the Ford Ranger One Day Cup having taken eight wickets from three matches at an average of 13.75.

Queensland all-rounder James Hopes has also had a good start to the domestic season averaging 29 with the bat and 20.52 with the ball from eight limited overs matches.

Hopes has however been a little disappointing in the Twenty20 format in averaging only 16.66 with the bat and 62 with the ball along with a high economy rate of 11.09.

Australia
Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Cameron White, Brad Hogg, James Hopes, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nathan Bracken, Shane Harwood.

England
Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Ed Joyce, Jamie Dalrymple, Paul Nixon, Chris Read, Liam Plunkett, Sajid Mahmood, Jon Lewis, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Monty Panesar.