Cricket World Cup 2023: Australia’s champion team is getting older, but what will it look like in 2027?
With a host of two-time World Cup winners set to retire before Australia’s title defence, a generational change is required. Here are the new faces who can be the next world champions.
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David Warner has indicated his 50-over career is far from over but Australia is still looking at wholesale generational change for its World Cup defence in four years.
More than half Australia’s team of champions will have crossed the divide into their mid-to-late 30s by the time the next event is held in South Africa, while Warner will be 41.
Many expected a cascade of retirement announcements might follow the World Cup final.
Although the stars might not be calling curtains quite so abruptly, it will still be a momentous effort to make it to another World Cup, particularly given the ever-intensifying schedule.
Selectors will need to gradually begin a process of regeneration and there are plenty of prospects in domestic cricket who are starting to shine.
Australia will be hoping the likes of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne can be the bridge between eras as we gaze deeply into the crystal ball in search of a possible XI in four years.
Are these the men to deliver Australia a seventh World Cup?
1. Travis Head (capt)
As forecast by captaincy doyen Allan Border, Head could well be leading Australia by the next World Cup. The most improved cricketer in the game will still be in his prime at age 33.
2. Cameron Green
This wasn’t a happy World Cup for Green because he would have been in the first XI if not for his sluggish form. He is tired after a big year but with more experience and careful management he will be one of Australia’s key men at the 2027 World Cup in South Africa. Opening might suit him.
3. Marnus Labuschagne
No one has worked harder to earn a World Cup jersey than Labuschagne in India and with the generational change looming in the batting order, the opportunity is there for him to replace Steve Smith as the new anchorman.
4. Aaron Hardie
Called into Australia’s T20 squad for David Warner, Hardie is a name with whom the country is about to get a lot more familiar. The all-rounder is a gun batsman who has a massive future in all three formats.
5. Jake Fraser-McGurk
The youngster will need more than one innings but his blazing one-day hundred for South Australia off just 29 balls shows he has something. Unless the Big Show is still firing at age 39, selectors need to find a new middle-order pyrotechnics man. Tim David and Ollie Davies are others in the mix.
6. Matt Short
Came agonisingly close to squeezing his way into this World Cup squad. Short has a bright future in Australian colours if he can kick on. He’s and explosive hitter and handy part-time spinner, so keep an eye on M Short.
7. Josh Inglis
It’s no easy ask to replace an established star such as Alex Carey behind the stumps one game into a World Cup campaign but Inglis let nobody down. This could be the platform for a very fruitful white-ball career for Australia.
8. Will Sutherland
The Victorian all-rounder and captain is one of the players to watch for Australia over the coming years. He’s an excellent lower-order batsman and handy bowler who looks made for big moments and high pressure.
9. Pat Cummins
It’s really a mystery as to whether the victorious Australian captain will continue on in one-day cricket, let alone make it to another World Cup. However, at 30 he’s still young and as long as the strain of Test cricket doesn’t weigh him down, there is no better bowler or leader in the country.
10. Spencer Johnson
Making it to another World Cup will be a major stretch for Mitchell Starc, so here is another left-arm destroyer of substance Australia can invest in. He will get his opportunities but it will be up to Johnson to take them.
11. Tanveer Sangha
Was on standby for this World Cup and has a massive future in international cricket. Adam Zampa will be 35 when the next World Cup in South Africa rolls around and that’s still young for a leg-spinner. However, Sangha has every chance to usurp him between now and then.
EXTENDED SQUAD MEMBERS
Josh Philippe
Superb wicketkeeper batsman who Australia should blood back into the system.
Adam Zampa
Champion leg-spinner who produced a World Cup that would have made Shane Warne envious. He has had some shoulder problems but Australia will be hoping Zampa is going nowhere.
Cooper Connelly
Showed with his extraordinary matchwinning knock in last year’s Big Bash final that he has the steel and skill to produce in the big moments.
Lance Morris
“The Wild Thing” will primarily be looking at a Test career but wouldn’t mind seeing him unleashed on South Africa’s pacy pitches for a World Cup in the Highveld.
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Originally published as Cricket World Cup 2023: Australia’s champion team is getting older, but what will it look like in 2027?
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