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Australia only has three matches before it needs to lock in a 15-player squad for this year’s T20 World Cup in the United States and West Indies.
Next week, the Australians travel to New Zealand for a bilateral T20 series against the Black Caps, sending across a full-strength squad for the three-match campaign. The tour provides Australia with an opportunity to finetune its starting XI ahead of the marquee tournament, which gets underway in June.
Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins return to the national T20 squad, along with batters Travis Head and Steve Smith, while Mitchell Marsh will once again lead the Australians.
After the New Zealand tour, a handful of Australian players will fly across to the subcontinent for the Indian Premier League, including the likes of David Warner, Tim David, Matthew Wade, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell.
However, there are still several fringe players fighting for a spot in the extended T20 World Cup squad, while the New Zealand tour provides national selectors with an opportunity to unearth Australia’s best opening partnership.
The first T20 between New Zealand and Australia gets underway at Wellington’s Basin Reserve on Wednesday at 5.10pm AEDT.
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Warner confirms Aussie retirement plan | 02:39
LOCKS
After finishing the recent T20 series against the West Indies as the leading run-scorer, David Warner has secured his spot in Australia’s squad for an eighth T20 World Cup campaign. However, the identity of his opening partners is currently unknown.
Australian captain Mitchell Marsh, who opened during the third T20 against the West Indies in Perth, is one of the candidates, but the Allan Border Medal recipient will likely slot into his preferred No. 3 position.
Glenn Maxwell, arguably Australia’s greatest T20 cricketer, will work his magic in the middle order alongside Tim David, who has developed into one of the most destructive finishers in the format. The 27-year-old has been Australia’s leading run-scorer in men’s T20Is since making his debut in 2022, boasting a strike rate of 169.05 in canary yellow.
For what will almost certainly be his final T20 World Cup campaign, wicketkeeper Matthew Wade slots in at No. 7, having averaged 57.66 with a strike rate of 152.64 in the position since October 2021.
Adam Zampa, who Marsh described as Australia’s most valuable T20 player earlier this week, will serve Australia’s premier tweaker in the West Indies and United States this winter, joining a world-class pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Following the upcoming Test series against New Zealand, the Australian quicks will shift focus towards T20 cricket. Starc and Cummins, who haven’t played a T20I since late 2022, will compete in this year’s Indian Premier League.
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FRINGE
World Cup final hero Travis Head, who was rested for the recent T20 series against the West Indies, is leading the race to become David Warner’s new opening partner. However, the talented left-hander has only played seven T20Is in the last five years, reaching fifty in the format just once since his debut in 2016.
All-rounder Marcus Stoinis is in the midst of a worrying form slump with the bat, but the 34-year-old is a more than handy fifth bowling option for the Australians, bringing balance to the starting XI.
Josh Inglis has put together a handful of impressive performances with the bat over the past four months, but the West Australian looks destined to serve as the squad’s reserve batter for the T20 World Cup.
Another player who could be carrying drinks in the United States and West Indies this winter is Nathan Ellis, currently recovering from a rib injury. The Tasmanian seamer has been superb for Australia in the T20 format, taking 22 wickets at 17.31 since his debut in 2021, but it’s unlikely he’ll squeeze into the first-choice starting XI ahead of the ‘big three’.
Steve Smith was dropped from the national side ahead of the 2022 T20 World Cup, only making a handful of appearances for Australia in the format since. However, if national selectors wanted a reliable anchor at No. 4, he’d be the man for the job.
After being named Player of the Big Bash League for a second consecutive season, Matthew Short has been included in Australia’s squad for the T20 tour of New Zealand. However, the Adelaide Strikers opener may only get one or two chances to push his case for T20 World Cup selection against the Black Caps.
BOLTERS
Jason Behrendorff and Sean Abbott are on standby for the T20 tour of New Zealand, suggesting they’d be next in the pecking order if one of Australia’s quicks was struck down by injury.
Behrendorff was named Men’s T20I Player of the Year at last month’s Australian Cricket Awards, while Abbott has been superb in the national side’s white-ball sides over the past 18 months.
Xavier Bartlett and Spencer Johnson are two of the most exciting prospects in Australian cricket at the moment, but their recent success probably isn’t enough to squeeze into the T20 World Cup squad.
Bartlett was the leading wicket-taker of this summer’s Big Bash League with 20 scalps for the Brisbane Heat at 14.70, while Johnson was snapped up by the Gujarat Titans at the recent Indian Premier League Auction for $1.78 million.
If Australia wanted a second strike spinner in its touring party, Ashton Agar would almost certainly join Zampa in the United States and West Indies this winter. The West Australian tweaker boasts superb numbers in T20Is, taking 48 wickets at 22.35 with an economy of just 6.47.
Cameron Green, who stunned world cricket when he was snared on a $3.15mIPL deal, is one of the most talented cricketers in the country, but his recent form in the T20 format hasn’t warranted selection in Australia’s first-choice side. The West Australian all-rounder, who will get a chance to push his case in the IPL, was omitted from the T20 squad for the New Zealand tour so he could focus on Sheffield Shield cricket ahead of the Test campaign against the Black Caps.
Then there’s Jake Fraser-McGurk, who exploded into the spotlight this summer with a record-breaking century in the Marsh Cup and an entertaining cameo against the West Indies in the recent ODIs. However, considering the 21-year-old is yet to make his T20I debut, a T20 World Cup call-up seems unlikely.
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