Injuries, withdrawals, and lack of grounding in the format have hampered Australia slightly ahead of the next edition of the Champions Trophy slated for 2025. Australia will be missing five first-choice players, including skipper Pat Cummins, who will return to captain in an ICC tournament for the first time. However, this would be a depleted side, and despite Australia mixing and matching and experimenting with their line-up during their two ODIs against Sri Lanka, the marked vulnerability of their three middle-order players against spinners would be a headache for the two-time champions.
With Australia unable to settle on the second opener, as Matt Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk failed to impress, former skipper Ricky Ponting has suggested a radical option of promoting acting captain Steve Smith to open. Smith was a de facto No. 4 batter for Australia in ODIs for many years and is in good touch; he didn’t do much in the two ODIs in Sri Lanka, but according to Ponting, the captain could set the tone and be able to find gears to help the rest of the batting order take shape around him.
“Yeah, he’s making it harder and harder for selectors to stick with Fraser-McGurk. He’s, I think, had the worst summer. I mean, there is such a huge talent there. So much potential, ability, and skill which we haven’t seen consistently enough just yet. And that’s one of the big calls that (selectors) are going to have to look at now as well,” Ponting said on the latest The ICC Review episode.
While Fraser-McGurk scored only 9 and 2 in a couple of matches, he did flourish once for the Melbourne Renegades in the whole of the Big Bash League: a whirlwind 95 against the Brisbane Heat. Smith, meanwhile, had brought up his third BBL century while opening the innings for the Sixers.
“Is he out of the question as a potential opener for the Sixers because of how well he has done in white-ball cricket as an opener?”