Difficult to squeeze in D'Arcy Short in the T20 team, says Trevor Hohns
D’Arcy Short, who has top-scored in two consecutive seasons of the KFC Big Bash League has been axed from Australia’s top order for the upcoming series’ against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Short has been piling up tons of runs in the Big Bash League and the Natwest T20 Blast since last year.
Australia has started its preparations to win the only trophy that has been out of their grasp. With a year to go for the T20 World Cup, which Australia is hosting this year, selectors announced the squad for the upcoming series’ against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The notable inclusions being the top order duo of Smith and Warner while Short has been surprisingly left out.
Smith and Warner haven’t seen much of the T20Is after the 2016 T20 World Cup. While Warner has played nine of the 23 T20Is Australia has played post the T20 World Cup, Smith hasn’t featured in any one of them.
One the other hand, Short has played 19 of those T20Is while being the top scorer of the last two editions of the Big Bash League. He also finished as the fourth-highest run-getter in the Natwest T20 Blast playing for Durham while picking up 13 wickets in 12 games during his run with them.
More recently, the left-hander ramped up a stunning 129 for Western Australia in the Marsh One-day Cup. But even after such heroics all over the World, chief selector Trevor Hohns felt that top order is owned by skipper Aaron Finch, who has been Australia’s top scorer in T20Is since the last T20 World Cup, Smith and Warner.
"They are for the time being (locked in as the top three),” Hohns told cricket.com.au.
“And if we look at each individual, they're world-class – they're probably three of the best players in the world. There is always unlucky people when it comes to selection, and D'Arcy operates in the area where there just happens to be Smith, Warner and Finch, and it's difficult to squeeze one of those fellows out. D'Arcy obviously is a standby player at this stage," he added.
Short has clearly has been the rising sun at Australia’s top order horizon scoring a mammoth 1209 runs with an average of 54.95 within the span of two BBL seasons. In the meantime, neither Smith or Warner have played in the BBL although Warner scored an overwhelming 692 runs from 12 matches in IPL 2019 to become the top scorer of the league, while Smith notched 319 runs with an average of 39.87 in the same tournament.
Hohns also added that this just the beginning of the T20 World Cup preparations and there is ample time for aspirants to prove themselves and earn a place in the final World Cup squad, with BBL performance being the most likely criteria for selections.
"This is only the start of the preparation leading into the World Cup, and good performances by (hopefuls) could squeeze the others out, depending on their form as well, and then, of course, injuries could occur at any stage," the chief selector said.
"So it's very important that the fringe players keep knocking on the door … and making themselves irresistible for selection going forward."
Hohns also stressed upon the workload management of key players of their T20 World Cup plans, namely Smith, Warner and Cummins, who represent the country in all formats of the game. The Aussies will be playing 21 T20 matches building up to the tournament.
"That'll be something we'll be very mindful of as the season goes on," he added.
"It's difficult for players to play every format, which (Smith and Warner) in particular and probably Pat Cummins and a couple of them are likely to do. But we'll certainly be keeping an eye on their workloads and making sure they don't get tired.
"Obviously there is a massive focus on this T20 World Cup in 12 months' time,” he signed off.