Explosive batter Jake Fraser-McGurk is set to be named in Australia’s T20 World Cup squad as a travelling reserve along with Matthew Short, according to a report on ESPNCricinfo.

There was a huge furore when Fraser-McGurk was not picked in the Australian T20 World Cup squad after his stupendous performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, where he slammed 330 runs at 36.66 to go with a strike rate of 234.04 in nine innings for Delhi Capitals (DC). 

With David Warner, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh occupying the top three slots for Australia, Fraser-McGurk did not find a place in the original squad but will act as a cover in case any of those batters are injured during the tournament.

Short has played nine of Australia’s last 14 T20 Internationals (T20I) and has batted up and down the order quite often other than chipping in with a few overs of off-spin.

Australia have decided against taking an extra seamer in their squad. Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc will spearhead Australia’s pace attack, with Cameron Green and potentially Marsh chipping in with a few overs if needed. There could be a time when Australia might field just two frontline pacers in the XI, with Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar being the spin options, along with Glenn Maxwell.

Spencer Johnson, Xavier Bartlett, and Sean Abbott will be playing in the T20 Blast during the World Cup, and they could be flown to the Caribbean if necessary.

Australian players whose teams have been eliminated from IPL 2024 will fly to Trinidad on May 23 (Thursday), where they will link up with their teammates for a training camp. They will also play a couple of warm-up matches against Namibia and the West Indies on May 28 and 30, respectively.

Head, Green, Cummins, Starc and Maxwell’s arrival to the Caribbean, as a result, will be delayed given that the final will be played only on May 26. Australia could potentially have limited resources at their disposal to field in those warm-up games. 

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