Steve Smith’s omission from the men’s T20 squad for next month’s World Cup in the Caribbean marks a shift into a new era for Australian cricket.
But the selectors opted not to include youngster Jack Fraser-McGurk despite scoring 259 runs in six Indian Premier League games, including 27 in Delhi’s win over Mumbai on Saturday. 84 points.
Selectors chairman George Bailey said it was an “experienced” squad that “covered the situations that the panel felt would affect West Indies” but Smith had not done enough to earn the No. 1 spot.
“We have a handful of players – probably more than some other countries – who have been in multiple formats for a long period of time and some of those players will naturally start to decline,” he said.
He said both Smith and Fraser-McGurk had had “long conversations” and there was still an opportunity to change the squad before the game, but he had limited his group to 15 players and was happy with the current balance.
The team performed largely as expected, led by Mitch Marsh. These include openers David Warner and Travis Head. First-choice fast bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are joined by Hobart Hurricanes’ Nathan Ellis.
Ashton Agar returns to the side as backup spinner behind Adam Zampa. Matthew Wade and Josh Inglis provide goalkeeping options.
Marsh took over as captain after Aaron Finch retired following Australia’s failure at the 2022 T20 World Cup, but his role was formalized on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old said it was a “good group of guys” and it was an honor to be named captain.
“We’ve had some great success recently and I hope that continues in what looks like an open tournament,” Marsh said.
Smith had limited T20 opportunities before he was ruled out and struggled in the two games against New Zealand in February. In the game against the Black Caps, he opened the batting with Hyde and scored 11 and 4 points respectively.
Smith did not get a chance to impress the selectors in the IPL after being overlooked in the auction this season.
Bailey has not ruled out Smith returning to the T20s but his future depends on him.
“I still think he’s got a lot of good cricket ahead of him. Whatever the format, I think that’s going to be a big factor for him in determining the direction of his cricket going forward,” Bailey said.
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Smith’s comments after the New Zealand series suggested he expected his Australia T20 career may be over.
“I’m relaxed, I’m happy with everything in my career and everything I’ve been able to do, if I can play in the World Cup I’d love it, but if I can’t then so be it,” he said in February.
Fraser McGurk turned 22 last month and despite his recent impressive form in the IPL, his exit comes a bit late.
He moved to South Australia at the start of last season and the move paid dividends.
In October, he recorded the fastest A-century of all time, hitting just 29 balls against Tasmania. In February, he scored his first 50-plus score against the West Indies in Australia and hit 41 off 18 in the second match.
Back-to-back BBL MVP Matt Short was also overlooked, although Bailey pointed to him as the other finalist.
Australia T20 World Cup provisional 15-man squad
Mitch Marsh (captain), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis · Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matt Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
