Australia's road to 2026: Eyes on Fraser-McGurk and Ellis' chance to lead
Written by I Dig SportsAfter two poor performances in the space of 48 hours dumped Australia out of the T20 World Cup earlier this year having previously been unbeaten, they are back in action with an eye to building towards the next event in 2026 with three-matches series against Scotland and England. David Warner has retired and other senior players are missing for a variety of reasons meaning there is a fresh look to the squad.
It's been an interesting winter for Fraser-McGurk after shooting to prominence in the IPL for Delhi Capitals following his ODI debut against West Indies last season where he batted as though it was T20s. He was a traveling reserve for the T20 World Cup amid plenty of discussion that he should have been in the main squad, which wasn't damped by Australia's Super Eight exit, even if who he would have replaced was never really answered. Then he struggled for runs in the MLC where he made 81 in seven innings for San Francisco Unicorns.
Chance for Ellis to be the leader
Ellis' numbers, particularly in T20Is, suggest he could have had more chances than have come his way. He played four matches at this year's World Cup, but only when one of the big three was rested. Now, with Josh Hazlewood's withdrawal from the Scotland series, he is the Australia's most experienced quick.
It will be interesting to see which phases of the game he is used in. His reputation has been built on being a superb death bowler, but it's understood that Australia have highlighted their powerplay bowling as an area that needs work. At the last two T20 World Cups crucial defeats by New Zealand (in Sydney) and India (in St Lucia) have come on the back of being dominated by the opposition batters in the first six overs, while against Afghanistan it took them 15.5 overs to break the opening stand.
If one area cost Australia in the Caribbean, it was the fielding. They had a horror day against Afghanistan with five drops and other misfields which came off the back of a poor display against Scotland. They will want to significantly sharpen up. The inclusion of a couple of younger names in Fraser-McGurk and Connolly should help, both in terms of skill and energy. Green and Aaron Hardie, who are yet to command regular places in the T20 side, are also good in the field as is Sean Abbott, a late addition after Spencer Johnson's injury.