Australian T20 squad announcement: Chris Lynn left out of team to South Africa
The hits keep coming for the Brisbane Heat following their poor Big Bash season with snubs from the team of the tournament and the Australian Twenty20 tour of South Africa. And the news could put a major dent in big hitter Chris Lynn’s World Cup hopes.
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THE hits keep coming for the Brisbane Heat following their poor Big Bash season with snubs from the team of the tournament and the Australian Twenty20 tour of South Africa.
The Heat and the Melbourne Renegades were the only teams to miss out on getting a player in the Big Bash team of the tournament announced on Monday.
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And Chris Lynn’s bid to win selection in the Australian T20 World Cup team will suffer a setback with his omission from the T20 team to tour South Africa to be announced tomorrow.
Glenn Maxwell is likely to be given a chance to walk back into Australian colours, but the same fate is not expected to be granted to Marcus Stoinis.
Melbourne Stars opener Stoinis is the Big Bash’s leading run-scorer and was on Monday picked to headline the competition’s ceremonial team of the year – alongside Maxwell.
Both players were marked hard for their poor World Cups last year in the 50-over format, but in Stoinis’ case, the road back to international level seems as though it might be a lot tougher.
Australian selectors, including the newest panel member George Bailey, met yesterday to discuss Australia’s Twenty20 and one-day squads to head to South Africa later this month.
Maxwell is likely to return to the T20 side, but despite Stoinis’ blockbuster BBL summer, there may be no room at the inn just months out from the Twenty20 World Cup.
Australian T20 captain Aaron Finch said in an interview 10 days ago, that Stoinis was considered a specialist top three batsman in the shortest format – the area where Australia are well stocked already.
If Stoinis is no longer seen has a middle-order candidate by selectors, his options for Australia appear limited with Finch, David Warner and Steve Smith currently locked in at the top.
“You can’t question the runs he’s (Stoinis) putting on the board. He’s playing nicely. It’s just been a bit unfortunate that the top three in the Australian side is quite settled at the moment and that’s the reality,” Finch told News Corp leading into his commentary stint for Fox Cricket for the BBL Finals.
“For him to get a game at the top of the order, something has to go wrong for the three guys in it.
“We always talk about who should be in the side and who shouldn’t be. But the reality is there still has to be a spot available for guys to force their way back in.
“It’s just one of those things. It’s unfortunate for him, especially the way he’s been playing.
“… But there still has to be a spot there.
“A lot of the (T20) team is progressing quite nicely I think … its’ about making sure you’re the next person in line when something happens to guys in the side.”
Finch nominated Adelaide Strikers star Jono Wells as a potential bolter for the Australian T20 squad, and his finishing role in the middle-order is something selectors may want a look at international level.
Mitchell Marsh’s strong BBL – making the team of the year – also brings him firmly back into calculations for the T20 and ODI teams as a middle-order option.
Selectors are unlikely to tinker with Australia’s one-day outfit too much, after they pushed India in last month’s series on the subcontinent.
It’s a no-brainer for Maxwell to return to the Twenty20 side. The only reason he dropped out of it back in November, was due to his bravery in putting his hand up for a mental health break.
This Big Bash has proven Maxwell’s skills in T20 batting are hard to match.
Plenty have been calling for Maxwell to return to the 50-over format too after Australia lacked a late innings finisher in the final two of their three fixtures in India.
However, ODI cricket is a vastly different format to T20s, and Maxwell’s underwhelming 50-over World Cup was the reason why Australian selectors opted to go in a different direction.
The Melbourne Stars with Stoinis, Maxwell and Haris Rauf, and the Adelaide Strikers with Wells, Peter Siddle and Rashid Khan dominated the BBL team of the year.
BBL team of the year: Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis, Matthew Wade, Glenn Maxwell, Jon Wells, Mitchell Marsh, Tom Curran, Rashid Khan, Daniel Sams, Peter Siddle, Haris Rauf.
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