Fewer than three months have passed since Australia’s Test team was seen to be in crisis as an ageing side that had shoehorned in a first debutant in almost two years was dismantled by India in Perth. A dramatic turnaround for a 3-1 series victory, followed by a clean sweep in Sri Lanka, went a long way to justifying selectors’ steadfast faith in the proven performers. Presenting baggy greens to five debutants across seven matches was an added bonus while suggesting the selectors might have had a much grander plan in mind all along.
Planning around Australia’s white-ball sides has been much more haphazard. Opportunities have been handed out to emerging talents and second-stringers while frontliners have been on personal or parental leave, injured, or simply rested with eyes on bigger, more lucrative prizes. In the past 18 months alone, Australia blooded enough ODI players to fill a full XI. The hope seemed to be that a handful of them would not only stick to the international white-ball squads, but eventually push their Test credentials too. The broad brush approach now looks like a masterstroke, after Australia’s initial Champions Trophy squad was decimated by a raft of withdrawals and injuries, leaving six of the debutants during that recent period to take the reins on a global stage.
Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matthew Short, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Tanveer Sangha and Ben Dwarshuis are all in Pakistan as part of a reassembled 15-man squad less than 18 months after having their first taste of one-day international cricket. Despite arriving with a combined 41 ODIs, 18 wickets and one fifty among them, each can expect to have a role to play as Australia seek to add the Champions Trophy to the Cricket World Cup they won in India.
Fraser-McGurk and Short have been earmarked to open the batting for Australia, just as they did together in ODIs against Pakistan and Sri Lanka this summer. The pair are part of the new breed of explosive top-order batters who play ramps, sideswipes and reverse sweeps from ball one, though their returns have too often underwhelmed while their reputations have been overhyped. The 22-year-old Fraser-McGurk was hailed – by Ricky Ponting, no less – as the “next David Warner” but the tyro has passed 16 just once in his seven ODIs and must be running out of chances.
Short also failed to grasp his opportunities of late and has averaged only 8.8 runs in his past five ODI knocks. The 29-year-old at least has history in blowing away England with a blazing 58 from 30 balls that sparked a successful chase last year. The hope will be that he can make a similar impact in Australia’s opening match against their out-of-form arch-rivals, especially if selection comes down to a choice between Short and the more dynamic Fraser-McGurk. Short’s off-spin will be a useful addition on the dry decks in Pakistan and could be enough to keep young leg-spinner Sangha out of the side and marooned as a back-up to tournament-specialist Adam Zampa.
Johnson will lead a pace attack alongside the versatile guile of Nathan Ellis and the all-too-suddenly senior operator Sean Abbott. But Australia will be unfamiliar to many without the “Big Three” of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Left-arm speedster Johnson has been a late bloomer after suffering a serious foot injury during his domestic one-day debut in 2017 but now looms as a breakout star of the tournament. Australia will need the 29-year-old to have that sort of influence as a strike bowler if they are to go deep in the tournament. Ellis is the other relatively fresh face hoping to impress after missing out on Australia’s World Cup success in 2023, though he barely adds to the experience of the current squad with only eight ODIs played since his first more than 18 months before the showpiece 50-over event.
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All-rounder Hardie was highly regarded as a youngster and has finally started living up to that promise as he becomes a regular in the ODI side. The 26-year-old can reliably club runs at the death or play a steadying hand when wickets have tumbled early. Hardie opened the bowling in Sri Lanka and will aim to test the more aggressive top-order batters by moving the new ball both ways at pace. Left-arm seamer Dwarshuis adds more variety to the attack, and is handy with the bat, though is likely down the pecking order of quicks heading into Australia’s opening match on Saturday.
With almost half the squad playing in their first ICC event, Australia will rely on the familiar firepower of Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head, Josh Inglis and captain Steve Smith, while hoping for more than just cameos from the in-form Alex Carey and out-of-sorts Marnus Labuschagne. But as Australia were reminded in two crushing ODI defeats in Sri Lanka last week, and were first warned about in a 2-1 series loss to Pakistan that started a memorable summer with a whimper last year, the next tier of players – as much as the next generation – will need to make the most of their unexpected opportunity if the reigning World Cup champions are to add to their collection of Champions Trophy jackets.
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