Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matthew Short have been added as travelling reserves to Australia’s T20 World Cup squad, although both won’t play unless there is an injury in the squad.
With Andrew McDonald and members of his squad set to fly out on Wednesday for the World Cup in the West Indies and the US, the Australian coach joined SEN’s Whateley to detail changes to the travelling party.
In-form opener Fraser-McGurk and BBL star Short have been added to the 15-man squad, with McDonald stating the batters bring different qualities.
“I think they’re slightly different in what they offer. Fraser is an out-and-out opener and the way we’ve grown Matthew Short into the team is through the middle order and that spin (bowling) ability as well,” he said.
“We feel like he’s a spinning all-rounder much like Glenn Maxwell if anything should move there, and obviously Jake Fraser-McGurk is an out-and-out top order player.
“Both exciting, I think they both add a lot.”
But McDonald added Fraser-McGurk and Short would only feature in the June tournament should injuries hit his squad.
“Those guys sit outside of the 15, the only way they can come onto the selection table is if there was to be an injury, we’ve got two options there depending on what we lose or what may unfold in terms of injuries,” McDonald continued.
“We've also got some other options in Spencer Johnson, Xavier Bartlett that are playing in the UK as well, so if we were to lose a bowler those guys are up and running in the UK… and they can come in, it’s only a short flight into the West Indies from England.
“We’ve got a lot of people available if anything should move.”
One of those potential injuries, however, could come with veteran opener David Warner.
The T20 World Cup is likely to be the 37-year-old’s final major tournament and he was given the nod over Fraser-McGurk, who was overlooked despite a blistering run of form early in the current IPL season.
Warner’s IPL form has been far less superior, and the swashbuckling left-hander has played just one innings since April 20 with hand and form issues.
When releasing the initial squad, chairman of George Bailey indicated Warner’s condition would be monitored.
But McDonald has declared Warner a certain starter.
“No, not at this stage,” he replied when asked if there were any injury concerns with Warner.
“We believe he’s fully fit, everything he says is he’s fully fit, we know that he missed the last game for Delhi, clearly that was a selection mechanism there with the way they want to play late in the tournament, I think he played the second last round… we have no fears he won’t be fit and fully available.”
Australia’s first of four group stage games comes against Oman in Barbados on June 6.