Australia will likely send two traveling reserves to the T20 World Cup: Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matthew Short. These players will serve as backups should one of the first-choice 15 players sustain an injury that prevents them from playing.
When the provisional squad was revealed, Australia’s chair of selectors, George Bailey, had stated that the country would only bring one reserve to the Caribbean. However, with the in-form Jake Fraser-McGurk expected to be picked alongside Short, they are likely to bring along a second.
They have made the decision not to bring in a third frontline spinner as a backup. When Australia had just one specialist spinner at the ODI World Cup last year, leg spinner Tanveer Sangha was part of the squad as a reserve; this time, Ashton Agar is one of the 15. Sangha was not in contention because it is also believed that he is treating a hip flexor problem.
Despite playing Test and ODI cricket for Australia over the previous two years, left-arm orthodox Matthew Kuhnemann trained with the country’s non-IPL players in Brisbane during the two camps that were held over the past two weeks.
Jake Fraser-McGurk’s Impressive IPL
Given his incredible IPL performance, Jake Fraser-McGurk’s exclusion from the starting lineup caused a commotion; many people in Australia and abroad thought he should have been picked. He has only participated in two ODIs and is yet to make his T20I debut. Due to Australia’s established top three of David Warner, Travis Head, and skipper Mitchell Marsh, he was not included for the starting team.
Instead, the selectors felt that players with greater adaptability were needed to cover positions outside of the first-choice XI. In the unlikely event that one of the top three is hurt during the competition, Jake Fraser-McGurk will probably cover. Without a doubt, the batsman to watch in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year was Jake Fraser-McGurk. The 22-year-old McGurk has been on fire for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL, scoring 330 runs at a strike rate of 234.04 in nine innings.
Having featured in numerous batting roles and appearing in nine of Australia’s last 14 Twenty20 Internationals, Short was similarly unfortunate to miss out on a spot in the final 15. Despite being the BBL player of the tournament as an opener in back-to-back seasons, he batted at No. 3 once and No. 6 twice as Australia attempted to establish some middle-order depth.
He opened in five games. In just four of those games—three of which included an over during the powerplay—did he bowl his part-time offspin. He will probably cover for several different positions within the squad.
The members of Australia’s squad not playing in the IPL finals will take a flight to the Caribbean on Thursday to attend a training camp in Trinidad. There, they will play two practice matches against the West Indies on May 30 and Namibia on May 28. Australia might only have a small squad for those games because players like Head, Green, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Glenn Maxwell are expected to arrive later than expected because the IPL playoffs don’t end until May 26.
Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Travelling reserves: Matthew Short, Jake Fraser-McGurk
Also Read : https://goworldwide.co.in/ipl-2024-i-dont-take-gautam-gambhir-seriously-says-former-india-cricketer/