"Opportunity for Australia's fringe cricketers to grab spots for T20 World Cup": Aaron Finch
Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch believes the upcoming tour of West Indies and Bangladesh will provide opportunities to grab spots for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The tournament is scheduled to begin later this year.
Several short-format stars, including Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis, have opted out of upcoming assignments. Steve Smith has also been ruled out, having sustained an injury.
Aaron Finch feels it will be difficult to ignore cricketers performing well in West Indies and Bangladesh because conditions will be more or less similar during the global T20 meet.
"Playing cricket for Australia and doing well is the ultimate, in my opinion," cricket.com.au quoted Aaron Finch as saying. "So for guys to be on this tour, to get the first opportunity to really put their hand up and take a spot is what it's about."
"It's tough to ignore really good international performances. These conditions are going to be really similar to what we face in the T20 World Cup I imagine, especially St Lucia (having been) used quite a lot recently with the South Africa series."
"And Bangladesh (is) quite similar to India or the UAE, wherever that lands (in terms of World Cup host). So yeah, absolutely, there's going to be opportunities for guys to put their hand up and take spots," he added.
While a couple of stars have opted out, multiple format players like David Warner and Pat Cummins have been rested. Australia will contest 10 T20Is and three ODIs over July and August.
Guys who are performing well in the Big Bash and domestic cricket are getting opportunities: Aaron Finch
The Australian squad due to travel to the Caribbean Islands stills boasts the likes of Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Mitch Marsh, Adam Zampa and Alex Carey. A couple of inexperienced talents coming out of the BBL have also been called up.
Aaron Finch feels it would be ideal to have a 15-20 member squad leading up to the T20 World Cup.
"I think the great thing about Australian cricket at the moment is the guys who are performing really well in Big Bash in particular, and domestic cricket, are the ones that are getting the opportunities."
"So while it would be ideal to have a really set 15-20 man squad from now leading into the World Cup, we've got to deal with what we've got, and it's still exciting," Finch added.