This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Illnesses to wicketkeeper Tim Paine and bowler Josh Hazlewood have opened the door for a pair of one-day international debuts against England at the Gabba on Friday.

Hazlewood has been sent home to Sydney to recover from a virus, while Paine continued to struggle with gastro at training on Thursday and isn’t certain of starting.

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After a maiden Big Bash hundred for the Adelaide Strikers on Wednesday night, wicketkeeper Alex Carey has been flown into camp as Australia look to level the five-match series at 1-1.

Rested from the series-opening loss on Sunday, Hazlewood was set to replace Pat Cummins before he got sick. Already with the squad, Jhye Richardson is tipped to make his ODI debut alongside second-gamer Andrew Tye and Mitchell Starc.

English bowler James Anderson, who has retired from short-form international cricket, questioned the depth in Australia’s bowling stocks during the Test series.

With that in mind, Australian opener Aaron Finch said it would be a chance for the side to prove that wrong in the absence of Australia’s highest-ranked ODI bowler Hazlewood and leading Ashes wicket-taker Cummins.

“Absolutely; AJ [Tye] making his debut bowled beautifully in a pretty difficult time when Jason Roy was on fire and Joe Root was playing well,” Finch said. “The way he held his nerve was really impressive in that middle part.

“He (Richardson) can bowl fast, he can swing it, has got a couple of variations of slower balls, he’s someone who thinks about his bowling quite a bit for such a young guy who has that raw pace,” Finch said. “I don’t think there’s a lack of depth at all.”

Carey, second on the BBL run chart to rampaging D’Arcy Short, will join the squad on Thursday night. The 26-year-old has posted 368 Big Bash runs at 61.33 to go with a strike rate of 139.92 this season, while also notching his maiden Sheffield Shield hundred in December.

Having passed up a rookie contract with South Australian in 2010, Carey returned to cricket when he was cut by the AFL’s GWS Giants ahead of the 2012 season.

“It’s pretty exciting to know that I’m not too far away; it’s every boy’s dream to play for Australia and coming back from football it’s probably happened quicker than I thought,” he said.

“If he [Paine] is not up for it I’m really looking forward to the opportunity but if he’s not it’ll still be great to be around that environment.”

England coach Trevor Bayliss said the absence of Hazlewood and potentially Paine would not tip the scales further in the visitor’s favour.

“There’s always a bit of a different feeling amongst this group; it’s a different group to the Test squad and full of confidence,” he said. “But they [Australia] have got plenty of depth, they’ll have good replacements coming in, it won’t impact in any way the way we go about our cricket.”