Fraser-McGurk recalled to national T20 side as selectors go ‘fishing’ for a way to win the World Cup

His numbers are poor but fate has handed Jake Fraser-McGurk a surprise Australian recall. This is why selectors are backing the Rooster, and what he must do to be a World Cup bolter.

Australia’s cricket selectors have asked the Rooster to show some pluck.

This was the recall Jake Fraser-McGurk could never have banked on, a hunch dice roll by a national selection panel going on a little fishing expedition.

With a T20 World Cup in the Indian subcontinent just seven months away, Australia’s cricket selectors are keen to see if Fraser-McGurk has anything left in his holster which should make him their maverick choice.

Fraser-McGurk, nicknamed The Rooster, will open the batting for Australia in the five-match T20 series against the West Indies starting Monday morning in Jamaica after being the beneficiary of two unexpected chances that could revive his career.

Jake Fraser-McGurk has been recalled to the Australian team. Picture: Getty Images

He was a late call-up for the initial 16-man squad after Spencer Johnson was ruled out of the tour and he was promoted to the starting side after Matt Short was sent home with a side strain.

Much of Fraser-McGurk’s recent form has been disappointing and debate continues over whether he needs more fibre in his game rather than simply the mortar fire which reaped hims a century off 29 balls in domestic cricket and prompted his international promotion.

Ricky Ponting has urged Fraser-McGurk to swing at 80 per cent capacity, feeling he tends to overcook his aggressive game. The stats have supported Ponting’s argument.

Much of Jake Fraser-McGurk’s form has been disappointing. Picture: AFP

In the recent Major League Cricket competition in the United States he scored 275 runs at 25 and was recently dropped by his Indian Premier League team, the Ponting-coached Delhi Capitals after he scored just 55 runs at nine and did not return to India after the competition was postponed.

In the Big Bash he has 188 at 18.8 so the national selectors could easily have ignored him but have always sensed that somewhere within this boom or bust package there is a player of great potential.

Mitch Owen, the big hitter who powered the Hobart Hurricanes to their maiden Big Bash title last summer, will make his debut in the middle order Australia while Tim David has been rested with a hamstring injury. Cooper Connolly will bat at seven.