Fraser-McGurk dumped for Champions Trophy as Cummins named … but might not play

Australia won’t make a call on Pat Cummins’ official availability for next month’s Champions Trophy until closer to the tournament, with head selector George Bailey saying he was “confident” the captain would be fit but admitting he had “no idea” about the results of recent ankle scans.

Cummins was named on Monday in Australia’s 15-man preliminary ICC Champions Trophy squad for the campaign in Pakistan next month, but there was no room for young opener Jake Fraser-McGurk, who has paid the price for his poor recent form.

Cummins will miss Australia’s two-Test tour of Sri Lanka later this month as he awaits the birth of his second child. There are also concerns about an ankle problem he was managing throughout Australia’s Test series victory against India.

Australia will play a warm-up match against Sri Lanka in Hambantota on February 13 – three days after the second Test in Galle – before their first Champions Trophy match against England on February 22 in Lahore.

ICC rules state that teams must name a preliminary 15-man squad five weeks before the start of the tournament (February 19). However, teams can make changes until a week before the first match.

“I don’t really have any more information than what I shared when we were announcing the Test squad a few days ago,” Bailey told reporters.

AUSTRALIA’S 15-MAN ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY SQUAD

Pat Cummins (captain), Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.

“I believe [Cummins] has had the scan, but I wanted to give him a little bit of space at the back end of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and obviously baby pending. We’ll work through that in good time. I’ve got no idea what the scan has said or what it showed. I know he’s very keen, so we’ll work through that.

“That’s always the challenge with the ICC requirements in terms of naming your squad this far out. I don’t have a date for you in terms of a hard timeline.”

Asked whether Mitchell Marsh would captain the side if Cummins was pulled out of the tournament, Bailey said a decision hadn’t been made.

The biggest call from selectors was the omission of Fraser-McGurk, who has been struggling with the bat at domestic and international level.

Pat Cummins after Australia’s 2023 World Cup win. Credit: Getty

Fraser-McGurk has not passed 26 runs in his eight outings for the Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League this summer and has been dismissed for single-digit scores four times.

Before that, the 22-year-old made scores of 16, 13 and seven in three ODIs against Pakistan in November and followed that up with nine, 20 and 18 in the T20 series.

Bailey wouldn’t be drawn on who would open the batting for Australia.

“As far as Jake goes, I think he’s still very young,” Bailey said. “We know that’s going to be a journey. The skill set is still incredibly exciting.

Jake Fraser-McGurk has been dumped from Australia’s one-day side. Credit: Getty Images

“We’ve got plenty of top order batters in the mix there. It is a pretty preliminary squad. There will be opportunities to move should anyone get hit with injury or we need to change the balance of that for some reason in the lead-up.”

White ball players will arrive in Sri Lanka for the one-day warm-up match while the second Test (February 6 to 10) is being played.

Josh Hazlewood has also been included despite recent injury battles, with calf and side strains restricting him to just two Tests against India.

Pace bowlers Mitchell Starc and Nathan Ellis have also been picked, alongside allrounders Marcus Stoinis and Aaron Hardie. There was no room for NSW bowling all-rounder Sean Abbott, who averaged 49.14 with the ball from eight ODIs last year.

“I think Sean’s been the beneficiary through his robustness and ability to be fit on the park,” Bailey said. “He’s had some opportunities in some of the one-day squads, when some other guys haven’t quite been there.

“In this sort of lineup, with the four quicks that we’ve gone with, we just feel like that was the best balance for this particular tournament.”

After the England fixture, Australia take on South Africa in Rawalpindi on February 25 before facing Afghanistan in Lahore on February 28.

Semi-finals are scheduled for March 4 and 5 before the final in Lahore on March 9.

Australia have not won the tournament since 2009, when Ricky Ponting was captain and Shane Watson blasted 105 not out in the final against New Zealand in South Africa. Pakistan (2017) are the defending champions ahead of this year’s tournament, which features eight teams.

Pakistan, India, New Zealand and Bangladesh are in Group A, while Group B features Australia, Afghanistan, England and South Africa.