Jack Fraser-McGurck, Matt Short will be Australia's traveling reserves for the T20 World Cup

Australia are likely to name an in-form top-order batsman and batting all-rounder in Fraser McGurk rather than any spare bowler.

Australia are carrying two traveling reserves for the T20 World Cup, with Jack Fraser-McGurrick and Matthew Short named as members of the 16th and 17th squads in the event of a tournament-ending injury to either of the former. Will be included as cover if applicable. Choice 15.

Australia's chair of selectors George Bailey has suggested Australia will only take one reserve to the Caribbean when the provisional squad is announced, but he is likely to be named alongside in-form Fraser McGurk at shortstop. .

They have chosen not to include a third frontline spinner as a traveling reserve. Leg-spinner Tanveer Singha was with the reserve squad in last year's ODI World Cup when Australia had only one specialist spinner but Ashton Agar is in the 15 this time. In dispute t. Orthodox left-armer Matthew Koehnemann trained with Australia's non-IPL players in two camps in the last fortnight in Brisbane, but despite playing Test and ODI cricket in the last two years, there is no T20I yet for Australia. have to play

Fraser-McGurk's exclusion from the main squad caused an uproar as his impressive IPL form led many in Australia and overseas to believe he should have been included. He is yet to make his T20I debut and has played only two ODIs. He was not selected in the main squad on the basis that Australia had a top three in David Warner, Travis Head and captain Mitchell Marsh and the selectors needed more versatile players to play roles outside the first choice XI. Fraser McGurk will likely provide cover if one of the top three is injured during the tournament.

Jake Fraser-McGurk continues his strong form, Delhi Capitals vs Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2024, Delhi, 7 May 2024

Jake Fraser-McGurk makes impressive entry into IPL•Associated Press

Appearing in 9 of Australia's last 14 T20Is and in multiple batting roles, he was also unlucky to miss out on a place in the short final 15. He was the BBL Player of the Tournament in back-to-back seasons as an opener in five games but batted once at No.3 and twice at No.6 as Australia looked to add middle-order depth. He bowled his part-time off-spin in just four of those matches, including one over in the power play in three. He is likely to provide cover for a number of different roles in the squad.

Australia have opted not to keep any other fast bowlers in their reserves as there may be times in the tournament when they only play two of the four selected in the squad. They have the ability to play two spinners or an extra all-rounder in Cameron Green to lengthen the batting line-up to No.8.

Spencer Johnson, Xavier Bartlett and Shaun Abbott will all be in England playing in the T20 Blast during the World Cup and could more easily travel to the Caribbean than those remaining in Australia.

Australia's squad for the IPL finals will head to the Caribbean on Thursday for a training camp in Trinidad that will include two practice matches against Namibia and West Indies on May 28 and 30 respectively. Australia are likely to have limited numbers available for the matches with Head, Green, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell due to the IPL playoffs not being completed until May 26. are

But while New Zealand chose not to play any practice matches due to the logistical challenge of having some pieces of their squad arrive at different times in the Caribbean, Australia are set to play warm-up games with limited numbers.

Several of their players, including Marsh, Warner, Agar, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa, Matthew Wade, Nathan Ellis and Josh Inglis, have either played little or no cricket since the end of the Australian domestic summer in March. Is. As per IPLICC rules, only the players included in the 15-member squad can play warm-up matches.

Marsh, Hazlewood, Inglis, Zampa and Agar have trained with Short in Brisbane over the past fortnight. Marsh is understood to have recovered from his hamstring injury but is yet to bowl.