Why Victoria’s Matt Short should captain Australia in T20s against Pakistan

SEN Cricket’s Adam White believes that Matt Short should captain Australia in their upcoming three-match T20 series against Tasmania.

White’s call came after Australia announced a 13-man squad for the series which didn’t include national T20 skipper Mitch Marsh as well as Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins.

With the usual leaders out of the series, other names that could do the job include Glenn Maxwell and Josh Inglis, but White believes that Victoria’s Short is the standout option.

He thinks that Short has been brilliant while captaining the Adelaide Strikers in recent BBL campaigns and he thinks that the 28-year-old is truly deserving of the honour.

“I absolutely believe it should be Matt Short,” White told SEN Sportsday.

“Matt Short has been the Player of the Year for the last two BBL seasons, he is the captain of the Adelaide strikers. 

“If you look at what he did just last year, he scored nearly 200 runs more than any other player in the BBL opening the batting.

“I genuinely believe we underestimate how good this guy is. He's a seriously good player. 

“Across the three forms of cricket we have here in Australia, he has been phenomenal in recent seasons and when he has played for Australia in mainly overseas T20s and ODIs, he has shown he’s up to the standard.

“I'm really looking forward to seeing what he will do against Pakistan because there's this feeling that Jake Fraser-McGurk is the obvious replacement for David Warner at the top of the order with Travis Head, I actually think that's a nonsense, I think Matt Short is far and away a better option than Fraser-McGurk at this point opening for Autralia.

“He's a serious player and we saw it on Friday against New South Wales (when he scored 80 from 58 balls) where Pat Cummins was playing for the Blues. He just played so well and I really hope he does very well against Pakistan.”

Following White’s comments, Short himself joined the show to confirm that no captaincy call had been made but that Australia selector George Bailey informed him that he’s in the mix to lead the side.

Short says he’s keen to put his hand up for the leadership position and would be honoured to lead his nation in some international cricket.

“He (George Bailey) kind of mentioned that no decision has been made on the captaincy but that I’m definitely in the mix,” Short told SEN Sportsday.

“I think they’re keen to sort of have me around in a leadership group role with those guys (like Pat Cummins and Mitch Marsh) missing the series.

“I’ll definitely put my hand up if that’s what they want to go with. It’s something I’ve done now for a year and a bit with the Strikers and something I definitely enjoy.

“It’d be a pretty good honour to captain the country and lead the boys out, that’s for sure.”

The three-match T20 series against Pakistan begins on November 14 at the Gabba.