Fraser-McGurk earns opening reprieve with Short out
Australian officials have confirmed that Fraser-McGurk will open alongside Mitch Marsh in the first T20 on Sunday (Monday AEST), while Mitch Owen will debut.
Fraser-McGurk had initially been left out of the squad for the five-match T20 series after a run of low scores for Australia, before earning a reprieve with a late call up last week.
Short had been expected to open, but officials have opted to play it safe and send him home with the allrounder battling a side injury.
The Victorian is expected to be fit to play South Africa in a series of top-end white-ball games next month.
Owen is expected to bat at No.6 for the tourists, with Tim David out of the series opener with a minor hamstring niggle.
Owen opened for Hobart when he was leading run-scorer in last summer's BBL, but selectors are understood to view him as a power-hitting finisher.
"He is a really exciting prospect for Australia," Marsh said.
"A young imposing figure and appears to be a really nice young man. We just want him to enjoy debuting for Australia and hopefully he can win a few games."
This series marks the start of Australia's lead up to next February's T20 World Cup in the sub-continent, with 17 matches between now and then.
Nathan Ellis will lead the tourists' bowling attack with the big-three quicks all sent home early, while Marsh will not be used with the ball.
That will leave an attack of Ellis, Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshius and Adam Zampa, with Glenn Maxwell and Cooper Connolly's spinners likely to come in handy.
"We don't want anyone to come in here and feel like they have to prove themselves," Marsh said.
"This series they come together as our attack and our unit. We have spoken about being really connected, and they'll lead the team."
AUSTRALIA TEAM FOR FIRST T20:
Mitch Marsh (capt), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Owen, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshius, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
17 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Fever ready for fierce grand final battle with rivals
West Coast have had the wood on the Melbourne Vixens this season but star defender Fran Williams expects the battle-hardened Victorian outfit to put up a fierce challenge in the Super Netball grand final. Ahead of the decider on Saturday at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena, on the Vixens' home patch after Netball Australia sold hosting rights, England captain Williams says the teams have formed a spicy rivalry. They have met in the grand final twice before, with Melbourne taking the honours in 2020 and the Fever winning their first-ever Super title in 2022 in a thumping 11-point victory. Fever have won both meetings this season en route to claiming the minor premiership and the record for the most consecutive wins, which is now up to 13. Williams joined the Fever last season and said she quickly became aware there was no love lost between her team and the Vixens. "There's a real rivalry and I noticed that when I arrived," the 27-year-old goal keeper said. "I think it's because they've had so many tightly-contested finals matches in the past and you kind of inherit that rivalry when you come and join this side." While Fever blitzed the NSW Swifts in the major semi-final to book a grand final berth, the fourth-placed Vixens edged reigning champions Adelaide by two points in the minor semi-final. They then upset the Swifts in Sydney in a one-goal thriller on Sunday to reach their fourth grand final in six seasons. "Playing Vixens is an exciting challenge for us and we're so up for it," said Williams. "We obviously played them in round 14, so quite fresh playing them ... we've got some evidence on how we've been able to beat them. "But also we know they're a quality, class side as well that bring some insane netball come finals time ... we'll be going in all guns blazing." Williams said her team would "embrace" the sell-out occasion in enemy territory, hopeful that some of the green army would make the trip east. "We've known from the start of the season that if we were going to win this whole thing, we were going to have to do it away so that's not feeling that new to us. "When you go away, our Fever bubble stays really strong and we kind of lean in on each other even more." Williams said she and Diamonds defender Sunday Aryang would be working hard to put pressure on the Vixens' Test shooting duo Sophie Garbin and Kiera Austin. "I thought Sophie was really impressive on the weekend and Keira as well with her super shot shooting, she was pretty clutch," Williams said. "They're very crafty with the ball so it's about winning your one on one battle first to kind of make them unsettled, and then making sure that they don't have those easy links and connections."
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Aussies' winning start as Poppy gears for title defence
Adam Walton and James Duckworth have given the Australian men a winning start at the Canadian Open as Alexei Popyrin prepares to defend the Masters 1000 title he famously won last year. Walton rallied to beat Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 4-6 6-0 6-3 in their first-round clash in Toronto on Monday (AEST). His reward is a second-round match up with top seeded Aexander Zverev, who had a first-round bye. Qualifier Duckworth beat China's Shang Juncheng 6-3 7-6 (7-3) and next meets third seed Lorenzo Musetti. Meanwhile, 18th seed Popyrin enjoyed a first-round bye before he faces 638th-ranked Canadian wild card Nicolas Arseneault in his first match. Popyrin is defending the title he won last year in Montreal when he downed Andrey Rublev in the final to become the first Australian winner of a Masters 1000 title since Lleyton Hewitt 21 years earlier. He followed that breakthrough by claiming the scalp of Novak Djokovic in the third round of the US Open before falling to Francis Tiafoe in the round of 16. However, it has not been easy going for Popyrin in recent weeks after he followed a first-round exit at Wimbledon with another first-up defeat in Washington, losing to China's lowly-ranked Wu Yibing in three sets. In the Canadian Open women's draw, Australia's Kimberley Birrell suffered a first-round loss to Canada's Victoria Mboko 7-5 6-3.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
A social media threat to Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin will go unpunished after an AFL investigation
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin opted against the AFL taking any further action after the league's Integrity Unit investigated an online threat made in the wake of the Demons last quarter capitulation against St Kilda on Sunday. Two goals in the final 60 seconds to Saint Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, including one after the siren, sealed the biggest three-quarter-time comeback in AFL history and consigned the Demons to a famous defeat. As he was conducting his post-match press conference, a post from an anonymous account on X included an image of a ute in a car park and a chilling caption. 'I'm currently waiting outside Simon Goodwin's car: Don't fret, Melbourne fans you won't need to worry any further,' the post read. It came after a Collingwood member was banned from the AFL, and MCG, for five years after posting a message on the ground's anti-social behaviour hotline about Carlton coach Michael Voss. Melbourne made the AFL Integrity Unit aware of the post but confirmed on Monday there would be no further action, confirming the car in the photo did not belong to Goodwin and it wasn't taken in the Marvel Stadium car park. 'The AFL Integrity Unit has investigated the reported tweet regarding Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin post-game,' the league said in a statement. 'The image posted was not Goodwin's car, nor was it from Marvel Stadium. 'Goodwin has been consulted and does not wish to take the matter further, and there is currently no further action from Victoria Police. 'The AFL is currently working with the platform 'X' to help identify the owner of the account.' Melbourne captain Max Gawn defended Goodwin, who is now in the spotlight after the loss, and said the players were to blame to the chaotic finish. He also said Goodwin, the 2021 premiership winning coach who is contracted for another season, had hit support. 'He's my favourite coach and he's a premiership coach, Gawn said. 'I find him extremely smart tactically and, in the end, he's had us 50-points up against St Kilda, a team that we were down by 50 [points] in Alice Springs. He's in it with us, but the last quarter is not solely on him,' Gawn said.
