Jake Fraser-McGurk will bid to fill the vacuum left by David Warner at the top of Australia’s batting order after being confirmed in the white-ball squads for the tour of Britain in September.
Warner bowed out of international cricket with Australia’s exit from the T20 World Cup, and the hard-hitting Fraser-McGurk has been seen as his natural successor following his sensational Indian Premier League campaign.
Uncapped in T20Is, Fraser-McGurk was included in Australia’s World Cup squad as a reserve player but never got a chance to shine on the global stage.
The 22-year-old was named in both Australia’s T20 and ODI squads on Monday for the tour which starts Sept. 4 with three T20s against Scotland in Edinburgh.
The tour then heads south for another three T20s and five ODIs against England.
Mitchell Marsh will captain both the white-ball squads, with pace bowler Pat Cummins sitting out the tour to rest for the five-Test India series over the home summer.
Uncapped Western Australian Cooper Connolly, a 20-year-old batsman, has been called up for his first squad, while Matthew Wade and Ashton Agar have been omitted as selectors look to the future.
Australia chief selector George Bailey said changes have been made looking at the team requirements for the tour to England.
“I don’t think there’s anyone who’s not there that we’ve put a line through permanently besides David,” Bailey said on Monday.
“This is the way we are going with this squad. If opportunities arise or there are gaps at different points there’s nothing to say that Wade might not come back, but certainly, at this point, we are excited about giving Josh (Inglis) a run.
“The next T20 World Cup is 2026, so I imagine there may be some more changes than what we are seeing in this squad but specifically to those guys (Starc and Maxwell), no we haven’t had any conversations about where they think their T20 journey may finish.
“Certainly for Glenn and Mitch, the Champions Trophy is very much on the horizon, (and is a) very important tournament for those guys.
“And Starcy in particular, I think he’s going to have a huge summer.
“Clearly, some of the decisions made around this series are around prioritising and getting guys right for what will be a really big summer. As far as ending players, seeing where guys might finish up, we haven’t had those conversations,” Bailey said.
Looking back on the T20 World Cup, Bailey can’t shake the feeling of frustration. After a promising start, Australia’s campaign unravelled quickly.
“Within a mere 36 hours, they fell to surprise defeats against Afghanistan and India, both of whom were undefeated before facing the Aussies.
“Still think that T20 side, the foundation of it, is a really, really good team,” he said.
“It didn’t feel like we needed to completely rip it apart and start from scratch. But it’s also a great opportunity to start to explore some other guys.
Cooper’s one who hasn’t had an opportunity, (and) there’s a number of guys who have been on some tours and played one or two games but haven’t had a great deal of opportunity yet.
“So excited to see them get a bit more of an opportunity and start to work out how they fit into that team or into that squad,” Bailey said.
Australia T20 squad:Mitchell Marsh (capt), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
Australia ODI squad: Mitch Marsh (capt), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa