Spinner Nathan Lyon, top order batsman Usman Khawaja and all-rounder Moises Henriques have been omitted after being selected in the squad that defeated Sri Lanka 4-1 away
As the prestigious Ashes gets underway, here's a look at the milestones that can be achieved.
IMAGES from Day 5 of the 4th Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday
Images from Day 2 in the fifth Test between Australia and England, in Hobart, on Saturday.
Australia's blockbuster four-Test series against India will be the greatest challenge Pat Cummins has faced in his young captaincy as he looks to conquer the "final frontier".
'It's a tough gig, opening in Test cricket, but we're really confident Marcus has got what it takes to be a successful Australian opening batsman.'
'I don't think Shami had any doubts that Ravi would stick by his word, but to see the head coach move heaven and earth to ensure his best interests were taken care of at a difficult time must have made a massive impact on him.' A fascinating excerpt from R Sridhar's must-read book Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team.
Images from Day 3 in the fifth Test between Australia and England, in Hobart, on Sunday.
Shane Watson's international future looked bleak on Monday after the all-rounder was left out of Australia's 13-man squad for this month's one-day series against India on Monday.
I'm against the whole resting rule. I don't like bowlers resting: Brett Lee
Australia fast bowler John Hastings has been withdrawn from a one-day tri-series against West Indies and South Africa in the Caribbean after undergoing surgery on his ankle.
IMAGES from Day 1 of the 3rd Ashes Test played in Melbourne on Sunday.
Shane Watson also named in T20 squad to be captained by Aaron Finch
Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews was badly shaken on Wednesday after a bouncer smashed into his helmet during a match against Australia and broke a protective strap designed to safeguard the back of his skull. Play was stopped for several minutes while Mathews recovered from the impact of the ball from fast bowler Scott Boland which evoked memories of the on-field death of the Australian batsman Phillip Hughes in 2014.
Opener Glenn Maxwell fired a blistering 145 not out as Australia posted a world record 263 against a hapless Sri Lankan attack in the first Twenty20 international in Pallekele on Tuesday. Maxwell struck 14 fours and nine sixes during his 65-ball stay to help Australia break a nine-year record held by Sri Lanka, who scored 260/6 against Kenya in 2007. Skipper David Warner gave the visitors a fiery start with his 28 runs off 12 balls as he put on a 57-run opening partnership with Maxwell to lay a solid foundation.
Ajinkya Rahane steered Rising Pune Supergiants home with an unbeaten half-century as the visitors outclassed Delhi Daredevils by seven wickets to keep their hopes alive, in the Indian Premier League in Delhi, on Thursday.
South Africa opener Quinton de Kock hit a masterful 178 runs in a comfortable six-wicket victory over top-ranked Australia on Friday in the first one-day international of the five-match series. After Australia posted 294 for nine in their innings, South Africa reached their victory target with more than 13 overs remaining.
Australia's rookie pacer Joel Paris is set to don Glenn McGrath's No.11 jersey when he makes his likely international debut in the first cricket ODI against India on January 12.
The hard-hitting 27-year-old becomes the fifth Australia player to leave the Indian Twenty20 tournament early following the departures of captain Steve Smith, John Hastings and Mitchell and Shaun Marsh
Australia batsman Usman Khawaja is likely to replace injured Kevin Pietersen in the squad of Rising Pune Supergiants in season 9 of Indian Premier League. Pietersen was ruled out of the IPL on Sunday, leaving the subcontinent with a hole in his calf muscle and in Pune's batting order. If picked, this will be Khawaja's maiden IPL stint. The left-handed top-order batsman had gone unsold at IPL auctions in February despite scoring heavily in Australia's domestic circuit. Pune have not named a replacement for KP, but Khawaja is the one of the frontrunners, according to Supergiants coach Stephen Fleming. "He (Khawaja) is a guy we are surely looking at," Fleming said after the two-wicket loss to Kolkata on Sunday.
The eight innings in the ongoing Australia versus India has produced an unprecedented 2498 runs and Cricket Australia bosses have admitted that they are trying to ring in change to make all the pitches batting friendly. In all the four ODI matches, batsmen have had the upper hand with 671 runs being scored in the Canberra game - third most in an ODI played in Australia. "In an ideal world we've got some of the best fast bowlers in the world who like it hard, fast and bouncy and we're not getting that at the moment," CA's general manager of team performance Pat Howard was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Off-spinner Nathan Lyon has been dropped from Australia's squad for the one-day international series in New Zealand next month, while in-form batsman Usman Khawaja has also been overlooked for the three-match series.
Brendon McCullum's final one-day international innings ended as spectacularly as it began when the New Zealand captain was dismissed for 47 in the series finale against Australia in Hamilton on Monday.
Backing Shaun Tait's surprise return to the Australian T20 squad for the three-match series against India, former pacer Jason Gillespie said the tearaway speedster will cause a lot of damage on Indian tracks if he makes the squad for the World T20 starting March 8.
Uncapped pacemen Joel Paris and Scott Boland will make their international debuts for Australia in the first one-day match against India in Perth on Tuesday.
Battered and bruised after four successive defeats, India will make a last-gasp effort to avoid the embarrassment of being whitewashed by an unrelenting Australia when the two sides clash in the fifth and final One-Day International in Sydney, on Saturday.
Australia called up uncapped paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile for the first Test against West Indies on Tuesday as a replacement for left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc, who was ruled out of the series due to a broken foot.
Their pride bruised following disastrous campaigns, Kings XI Punjab and Rising Pune Supergiants will look for a graceful exit from the ninth edition of the IPL when they square off against each other for one last time in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. Supergiants are coming into the contest after a victory over Delhi Daredevils at the same venue, their home ground, while Punjab have lost their last two outings -- against RCB and table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad. Punjab's fourth and last win this season had come at this very ground, when they had got the better of Mumbai Indians.
India turned in a fine all-round show to beat Australia by 27 runs in the second Twenty20 International and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, on Friday.
India's batsmen have gone about their job efficiently, posting big totals on the board but the bowlers have been ordinary at best, allowing the hosts to chase down those tall scores in each of the first three ODIs of the five-match series.
After making impressive debuts in their respective openers, Rising Pune Supergiants and GujaratLions will test each others' strengths when the two new entrants clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL), in Rajkot on Thursday. The two teams feature a lot of faces from the suspended Chennai Super Kings and at least six players, who played in the same side till last year, will now be in opposite camps. Close friends and CSK teammates Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina will now be devising strategies as rival captains. Both have admitted that playing in a jersey other than 'yellow' has been very "emotional" but have promised to give their all for their new teams. The Dhoni-led Pune Supergiants were very convincing and dominant when they handed defending champions Mumbai Indians a nine-wicket drubbing. They did not even require their middle order, packed with Dhoni himself and players such as Steven Smith, to come out with the top-order delivering it for them comfortably.
A determined Delhi Daredevils will make another push to stay in the hunt to make the playoffs when they take on bottom-placed Rising Pune Supergiants in the Indian Premier League in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
It will be a battle for survival for struggling Rising Pune Supergiants when they lock horns with formidable title-contenders Sunrisers Hyderabad in Tuesday's Indian Premier League match in Visakhapatnam.
Rising Pune Supergiants now face an uphill task of taming the rampaging Gujarat Lions in an Indian Premier League clash, in Pune, on Friday.
India will eye revenge for their defeat in one-day series as they meet fierce rivals Australia in three Twenty20 Internationals, starting on Tuesday, January 26 at Adelaide Oval. Games will also be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (January 29) and Sydney Cricket Ground (January 31). The matches will see some of the world's explosive batsmen in action, while the series is also tipped as a much-needed preparatory ground ahead of the crucial World T20 scheduled to be held in March in India.
Steve Smith and George Bailey's brilliant knocks overshadowed Rohit Sharma's magnificent 171 as Australia beat India by five wickets in the first ODI of the five-match series in Perth on Tuesday.
Top class left-armers are in short supply and chief selector Rod Marsh joked that he had mulled telephoning Johnson to see whether he might like to come out of retirement.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be eager to break the sequence of reverses and get Rising Pune Supergiants' campaign back on track when they lock horns with in-form Kolkata Knight Riders.
A supremely confident Delhi Daredevils return to their den and have a struggling and injury-ravaged Rising Pune Supergiants in their firing line up next in the Indian Premier League, in New Delhi, on Thursday.
His retirement will leave a hole at the top of New Zealand's batting order in limited-overs matches, while it could also change the way they approach games in future.
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