Turner keen to make an impact for Australia

SYDNEY: Australia all-rounder Ashton Turner, who has made a comeback in the national squad for the upcoming home T20Is against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, is eager to make an impact with both bat and ball for his team.

Turner’s last international appearance came in the last of five ODIs against India earlier this year in March, when Australia beat the Virat Kohli-led side 3-2 to register their first bilateral series win in India after 2009.

In the fourth ODI of the series, in Mohali, the 26-year-old had scored a stroke-filled 43-ball 84* to help his side chase down India’s 358-9 with 13 balls to spare. However, with Steve Smith and David Warner making an international return and he himself sustaining a finger injury, Turner hasn’t been in Australia’s national set-up since.

Now as he makes a comeback for home T20Is against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the all-rounder can’t wait to take the field for the national team again.

“Probably the most exciting moments of my cricketing career have come from playing for Australia, and it’s an environment that I loved being in,” Turner told cricket.com.au.

“All of my team-mates were so welcoming, and I remember once I got into that squad I thought ‘this is the place I want to be, this is the team I want to be playing for’.

“I’ve had some injuries and a bit of time at the WACA gym recently, running laps, doing my rehab. But that whole time I had, in the back of my mind, playing for Australia again. It’s certainly a big goal for me, and I don’t care what format it is, I just love playing for Australia.”

Turner has also been having trouble with his shoulder in recent times, which has kept him away from bowling his off-breaks.