Marsh named captain in Australia's T20 World Cup squad as Smith and Fraser-McGurk miss out

By Sports Desk May 01, 2024

Mitchell Marsh will captain Australia at next month's T20 World Cup, but Steve Smith and Jake Fraser-McGurk have been left out of the 15-man squad.

Marsh, who has shared the duties on an interim basis since Aaron Finch's retirement, was named the Baggy Greens' permanent T20 skipper on Wednesday.

Test captain Pat Cummins, fast bowler Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell have also been named in the squad, which features 11 of the players that were part of the team that won this tournament in 2021.

However, there is no place for former skipper Smith following a difficult spell of form, while Fraser-McGurk is also absent despite his impressive form in the Indian Premier League.

"This is an experienced squad with extensive World Cup experience that offers a variety of structures and covers the scenarios the panel believes will factor in the West Indies with the unique nature of the venues and our opponents," selection chief George Bailey said.

"Steve Smith, Matt Short, Jason Behrendorff, Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson and Xavier Bartlett were all part of long conversations, along with several others, including Jake Fraser-McGurk who is yet to play T20 International cricket but continues to impress and is developing rapidly.

"Being constrained to a squad of 15 for World Cups is always a challenge given the different scenarios and options we’d like to cover.  

"Ultimately, the balance of the final 15 needs to provide the best chance of being successful in this campaign."

"It's been an immense privilege to play for my country and now an even greater honour to lead the squad to a World Cup," Marsh added.

"We have had some strong success in recent times, and I am hopeful that will continue in what looks like a wide-open tournament."

Australia will begin their tournament against Oman on June 5, while they will also play England, Scotland and Namibia in Group B.

Australia's provisional squad:

Mitchell Marsh (captain), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

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