Difficult to squeeze in D'Arcy Short in the T20 team, says Trevor Hohns

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. 

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. 

“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. 

"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."

"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.