Australia’s T20I Captain Discusses IPL Star’s Absence from T20 World Cup Selection
By Jonathan Healy
Newly-appointed Australia T20I captain Mitch Marsh has expressed his belief in the promising international future of hard-hitting batter Jake Fraser-McGurk, despite the latter narrowly missing out on selection for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The champions of the 2021 T20 World Cup, Australia, announced their squad for the 20-over showcase on Wednesday. The absence of Fraser-McGurk and former skipper Steve Smith from the 15-player group was among the most unexpected developments.
Big names miss out as Australia reveal squad for T20 World Cup
Fraser-McGurk has been delivering outstanding performances for the Delhi Capitals in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Many believed that the right-hander had demonstrated enough prowess to be included in the team for the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA next month.
Marsh, impressed by Fraser-McGurk’s performances at both the international level and in Delhi, suggested that incumbent openers Travis Head and David Warner have proven their worth and earned the right to maintain their positions at the top of the batting order.
“Jakey is an outstanding talent,” Marsh said on Australian radio station SEN. “The way he’s taking on the IPL, he’s taken it by storm, they’re all loving him, and certainly, the Delhi crew are enjoying his company and what he brings to the team. There’s no doubt that he’s going to have a huge future, wherever he plays.”
“But we feel like we’ve got all bases covered within our team. Heady and David Warner have been fantastic for us, not only for a long period of time but over the last 18 months building towards this (T20) World Cup.”
“We’re really comfortable that we’ve got the right 15, to hopefully take us deep into the (T20) World Cup.”
All squads named so far: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024
Fraser-McGurk has already scored three half-centuries for Delhi in this IPL. His batting strike-rate of 233.33 surpasses every other batter at the tournament who has scored more than 60 runs.
More than half of Fraser-McGurk’s 259 runs at the tournament have come from sixes, with the 22-year-old having cleared the rope on 23 occasions from six innings for Delhi to be sixth overall for most sixes at the event.
These performances bode well for Fraser-McGurk’s future in white-ball cricket, and Marsh expects to see the top-order performer back playing for his country sooner rather than later.
“He’s come along pretty quickly. There’s been a huge amount of talent that’s been identified from a young age,” Marsh noted. “We saw a glimpse of it throughout the (domestic) Big Bash this year and you know that the IPL is a tough tournament.”
“You can’t take a backward step and that’s certainly the way he plays his cricket and he’s got an exciting future.”
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