Newly-appointed Australia T20I captain Mitch Marsh shared that hard-hitting batter Jake Fraser-McGurk has a bright international future ahead, although he has not been selected for next month’s ICC T20 World Cup 2024. The 2021 T20 World Cup champions recently revealed their squad for the 20-over showcase on Wednesday and the absence of Fraser-McGurk and former captain Steve Smith left many surprised.
However, Fraser-McGurk has been in great form for the Delhi Capitals in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) and many believe that he needs to be in the West Indies and USA next month for the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup as well. And while Marsh has been impressed with Fraser-McGurk’s batting at the international level and in IPL, he also suggested openers Travis Head and David Warner have the runs on the board.
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“Jakey is an outstanding talent,” Marsh said on Australian radio station SEN. “I think you know the way he’s taking on the IPL, he’s taken it by storm, they’re all loving him, and certainly, the Delhi crew are enjoying his company and enjoying what he brings to the team and there’s no doubt that he’s going to have a huge future, wherever he plays. But we feel like we’ve got all bases covered within our team. Heady and David Warner have been fantastic for us, not only for a long period of time but over the last 18 months building towards this (T20) World Cup. We’re really comfortable that we’ve got the right 15, to hopefully take us deep into the (T20) World Cup.”
However, Fraser-McGurk has three half-centuries so far for Delhi Capitals already this IPL and his batting strike rate of 233.33 is better than every other batter in the tournament to have scored more than 60 runs.
“He’s come along pretty quickly. There’s been a huge amount of talent that’s been identified from a young age. We saw a glimpse of it throughout the (domestic) Big Bash this year and you know that the IPL is a tough tournament. You can’t take a backward step and that’s certainly the way he plays his cricket and he’s got an exciting future,” Mitch Marsh concluded.
Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
