Archie has been named in the cricket squad for the Boxing Day Test match.
The Australia national cricket team will have a very special player in their squad for the first time at this year’s Boxing Day Test.
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When the squad meets up ahead of the third Test against India, they will be joined by Archie Schiller, a young boy who will turn seven a few days before Christmas.
The young cricket fan received the news of his inclusion in the extended squad in a phone call from Australia coach Justin Langer himself.
Archie, from Barossa Valley, Australia, received the call from the United Arab Emirates as the national team played against Pakistan.
Archie, who bowls leg spin, will also meet up with the team on Tuesday ahead of the Adelaide Test match.
If that seems like a meteoric rise, it’s worth noting that there’s nothing Virat Kohli and co could throw up that’s a bigger challenge than Archie has already been through in his short life.
The cricket-mad youngster has a long-term heart condition, and has undergone 13 surgeries so far, the first of them an open-heart procedure when he was just three months old.
Archie was contacted through Make-A-Wish Australia, which offered him the opportunity to be a part of the squad.
Langer told cricket.com.au: “I reckon he’ll be treated like (uncapped opener) Marcus Harris – come in for the first time in the change-rooms, meet all the boys and like always when you come into that inner sanctum of the Baggy Green, it’s like joining the brotherhood.
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“Archie will be joining the brotherhood.
“He’s been through some tough times, spent a lot of time in a hospital bed, so any way that we can help to put a smile on his face, it’s the very least we can do for him.
“Just being out on Adelaide Oval, in the sunshine, under a nice blue sky and running around with his heroes – who, to a man, were all really moved by his story – it should be terrific for everyone.”
MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh beat a depleted Australia for only the second time in one-day international cricket on Tuesday.
Mosaddek Hossain returned to ODIs after four years with a chancy half-century and Nahid Rana rattled Australia with his pace in an emphatic 86-run victory on the DLS Method.
Mosaddek profited from three dropped catches to score an unbeaten 86 off 70 balls. Najmul Hossain Shanto (67) and opening batter Tanzid Hasan (54) also contributede to Bangladesh’s strong total of 284-8.
Rana took 4-41, often hitting 140 kph, as Australia limped to 191-9 in 42.2 overs, needing an unlikely 94 runs off 46 balls when lightning and rain stopped play. The game never restarted with Cameron Green on a team-best unbeaten 52 off 66 balls.
Australia lost to Pakistan 2-1 in ODIs last week and its playing its first bilateral ODIs with Bangladesh in 15 years. Bangladesh's only previous win over the six-time world champion was in 2005. Mirpur is scheduled to also host the remaining two ODIs on Thursday and Sunday.
Australia had a dismal start its run chase when Matthew Short was clean-bowled by Taskin Ahmed to the very first ball. Marnus Labuschagne struggled on Pakistan's tailor-made slow tracks and scored 0, 5 and 19, and on a seam-friendly Mirpur pitch he fell for 1 to Mustafizur Rahman.
Opener Cooper Connolly made 35 and shared a 49-run stand with captain Josh Inglis (19) and a 40-run stand with Alex Carey (47), but Mosaddek removed Connolly and Rana claimed three wickets in three overs of his return spell and the game got away from Australia.
Mosaddek's tidy 10-over spell of off-spin finished with 2-37 followed his half-century in an impressive return since his last ODI in 2022.
Mosaddek was dropped three times while hitting seven fours and three sixes in his comeback game. Connolly and Oliver Peake dropped Mosaddek before the half-century and Adam Zampa missed a simple catch on 73.
Shanto also got a life on 9 to score his 12th ODI half-century.
Fast bowler Nathan Ellis led with 3-38 after impressing in Pakistan with his variations.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
Bangladesh's Mahedi Hasan bowls a delivery during the first one day international cricket match between Australia and Bangladesh in Mirpur, Bangladesh, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosaraf Hossain)
Bangladesh's Mosaddek Hossain Saikat celebrates his fifty runs during the first one day international cricket match between Australia and Bangladesh in Mirpur, Bangladesh, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosaraf Hossain)
Bangladesh's Mosaddek Hossain Saikat plays a shot during the first one day international cricket match between Australia and Bangladesh in Mirpur, Bangladesh, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosaraf Hossain)
Australia's Cameron Green plays a shot during the first one day international cricket match between Australia and Bangladesh in Mirpur, Bangladesh, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosaraf Hossain)
Bangladesh's Nahid Rana celebrates with teammates the wicket of Australia's Liam Scott during the first one day international cricket match between Australia and Bangladesh in Mirpur, Bangladesh, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosaraf Hossain)
Australia's Josh Inglis, right, with teammates walk off the field on the end of the third one-day international cricket match between Pakistan and Australia, in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
