MELBOURNE - Cricket Australia (CA) on Tuesday, confirmed the addition of Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matthew Short as the travelling reserves to their preliminary squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, scheduled to commence on June 2.
Explosive batter Fraser-McGurk and all-rounder Short earned a late ticket to this year’s mega event as reserves, meaning there is still no spot for Steve Smith, Jason Behrendorff and Tanveer Sangha. Fraser-McGurk enjoyed an astounding Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign with Delhi Capitals as he smashed 330 runs in just nine appearances. His purple patch was close to taking him to the T20 World Cup 2024 but the likes of David Warner, Travis Head and Mitch Marsh saw him missing out. Similarly, Short, who has been the standout opening batter in the Big Bash League (BBL), can also bat down the order and offer a solid off-spin bowling option, but narrowly missed out on making it to Australia’s Final 15.
“You look at Jake’s form in the IPL – he took that by storm and he was a serious consideration for the final 15,” coach Andrew McDonald told cricket.com.au. “And so was Matthew Short. His BBL form has been outstanding over a long period of time and he’s shown glimpses at the international level as well, albeit at times he’s had to play a different role.
“When you’re on the fringes potentially you’re going to have to play different roles at different times and he’s really embraced some middle-order opportunities. “We know that he’s best suited at the top of the order – and it’sprobably similar for Jake as well – hence why they haven’t been picked in the initial 15. “But should anything move, we feel as though both of them could have the flexibility to line up anywhere in that batting order.” Notably, Jason Sangha was in contention to be considered for the travelling reserve spots but suffered a hip injury while training in Brisbane last week.
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: Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matt Short.