Australia begin preparations for T20 WC

SYDNEY: Aaron Finch, Australia’s limited-overs skipper, is already putting in place strategies for next year’s ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup, which they host in October-November.

While Australia have been crowned world champions five times in 50-over cricket, they are yet to do so in the shortest format. The 2020 edition on home soil presents a golden opportunity to do just that, and Finch and head coach Justin Langer have begun planning in that direction already.

“(We have had) some pretty brief chats over the last couple of weeks, pretty much just trying to nut out a squad that we think can take us through to the World T20 in October and November,” Finch said, as reported by Cricinfo.

“Whether there are 24 or 25 players that we think can play a role in different scenarios, it’s just about making sure that we’re on the same page in our thinking in terms of selection and stuff like that. Of course, there’s always curveballs, guys who turn up and play well and start the season will really push.”

At the moment, Australia are engulfed in the last lap of a gruelling summer, playing in the fifth and final Test of the Ashes. That was preceded by the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, where they were knocked out in the semi-final.

However, while they have not played in the shortest format of the game for over seven months, they have a lot of T20 cricket coming up: the 2010 World T20 finalists will feature in three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and England over the next year.

They have also had 11 players associated with the T20 Blast this year, including Cameron Bancroft, D’Arcy Short, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Marsh, Andrew Tye, James Faulkner, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, Alex Carey, Mitchell Marsh and Finch himself.

Additionally, the 2019/20 iteration of the Big Bash League, which is set to run from December to February, will also help them pick out players for the T20 World Cup.

“There’s a lot of T20s coming up over the next 8-10 months, so the fact that guys have got more, and I suppose, longer exposure to limited-overs cricket, I think it’s a really good thing,” Finch said.

“No doubt there’ll some guys who jump out of the box and really put their hand up for those sides.”