Marcus Stoinis has been handed a timely recall for next month’s three-match T20 trip to New Zealand, while fellow all-rounder Cameron Green and injured quick Spencer Johnson stay on the sidelines.
Stoinis, 35, skipped the recent West Indies and South Africa fixtures to finish his stint in the Hundred – an arrangement made with the selectors – yet remains very much in the World Cup conversation. He slots into a squad led again by Mitchell Marsh and, on paper at least, competes for the same middle-order finishing berth he filled at the last global tournament. His brisk medium pace, occasionally used with the new ball, does his cause no harm either.
Green has been directed to the opening round of Sheffield Shield cricket to continue his return to bowling. The idea, say officials, is simple: overs in red-ball conditions trump a short T20 cameo right now.
There is another absentee. Nathan Ellis, increasingly the side’s death-overs banker, will remain in Australia as he and wife Connie await the birth of their first child. Once he’s available again, Ellis is almost certain to partner Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa in the World Cup XI – Mitchell Starc’s retirement from T20 internationals cleared that path months ago.
Starc’s logical replacement looked to be Johnson, the tall left-armer who grabbed 14 wickets in his first eight T20Is. A stress injury picked up during the IPL, however, has bitten hard. “The latest update for Spencer is that it’ll be sometime in the new year that he’ll start to come back online again,” chair of selectors George Bailey said. “What that looks like and at what point, I don’t think there’s anything definitive on that, still hoping that he can have an impact both domestically and potentially internationally towards the back end of the [season].”
Johnson’s delay opens the door for fringe quicks Xavier Bartlett and Ben Dwarshuis in Wellington and Auckland. Both swing it, neither bowls at Starc pace, but wickets on small New Zealand grounds will keep them in the minds of the panel.
Matthew Short, meanwhile, returns from a side strain. He belts power-play spin, fields like he’s double-parked and offers handy off-breaks; a tidy series would drop another headache on the selectors’ desk.
The New Zealand matches fall on 1, 3 and 4 October – a hectic burst before five home T20s against India in November. After that, it’s Big Bash League form and then three pre-World Cup fixtures in Pakistan early February. In other words, the window for late bolters is narrowing fast.
Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (capt), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Owen, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.
