Australian pacer Brendan Doggett out of West Indies series with hip injury

‌Australian pacer Brendan Doggett has been ruled out of the three-Test series against West Indies, scheduled to start later this month, with a hip injury. Doggett, who was with the Australian team during the World Test Championship 2025 final against South Africa at Lord’s, will now be replaced by pacer Sean Abbott.

The South Australian pacer has made his way into the national side on the back of strong performances in the domestic circuit this season. With 33 wickets, including four five-wicket hauls, in seven matches at an average of 24.15 and a strike rate of 44.27, Doggett was South Australia’s second-highest wicket-taker in the Sheffield Shield 2024-25 season. He capped off a wonderful season with an 11-wicket haul in the final of the premier domestic tournament that saw him winning the Player of the Final award and his side the prestigious Shield.

With Australia looking to manage the workload of their pace-bowling trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood ahead of the Ashes later this year, Doggett fancied his chances of making a Test debut and feature in the eleven alongside Scott Boland. But now, he will have to wait longer to get that baggy green as he returns to Australia.

Abbott, his replacement, is yet to make his debut in Tests despite playing 28 ODIs and 20 T20Is for Australia and featuring in 88 first-class matches for New South Wales in the domestic circuit. Abbott may be lucky this time around and get a nod if the conditions in the Caribbean are conducive for pace bowling and Australia sticks to their usual trend of playing only Nathan Lyon as the specialist spinner.

"What are we going to get in the Caribbean? We haven't been there since 2016, so there's a little bit of the unknown, but we feel as though we've got a squad that can cover all bases," head coach Andrew McDonald said.

The side is also sweating over the fitness of their key batter Steve Smith, who injured his finger while attempting a catch during the WTC final, with the first Test of the three-match series starting in Barbados on June 25. The action then shifts to Grenada and Jamaica in July with the last Test being a day-night affair.

"It just split the skin and dislocated it, which made me feel pretty ill at that stage," Smith told the ICC. "I think, in a splint for eight weeks now and may be able to play with it in a couple of weeks, so it'll depend on my functionality and what I'm able to do, but it's probably the best result I could have hoped for."

The Aussies are also scheduled to play a five-match T20I series against the Windies, after their three-match duel, from July 21.