Matthew Short ruled out, Jake Fraser-McGurk returns as Australia XI for 1st West Indies T20I announced

The Australia National Cricket Team have announced their playing XI for the first T20I of the five-match series against the West Indies National Cricket Team.

Matthew Short has been ruled out of the entire series, opening the doors for the talented batsman Jake Fraser-McGurk to get the opportunity in the playing XI.

Side strain rules Matthew Short out of West Indies T20Is

The T20I series opener between Australia and the West Indies will be played on July 21 at Kingston in Jamaica (10 am AEST). Matthew Short was all set to open the innings for Australia in the series, but unfortunately suffered a minor side strain.

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This injury has ruled Short out of the entirety of Caribbean tour and the Australian selectors have shown faith in Jake Fraser-McGurk to do the job. Fraser-McGurk was once regarded as the succeccor of David Warner, but the youngter has failed to impress and has not been able to perform consistently.

He was a late addition to the Australia T20I squad for the Caribbean tour as a replacement for injured pacer Spencer Johnson, having initially been left out. The young batter has so far scored just 113 runs in 7 T20Is and would look to improve his numbers.

Meanwhile, the BBL hero Mitchell Owen is all set to make his T20I debut while batting in the middle order, and Cooper Connolly will bat at seven as Tim David, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, has been rested.

Talking about notable exclusions, Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, and Alex Carey have been rested for the T20Is.

Also Read: Ravi Shastri exposes KL Rahul’s act that annoyed India coaches: "There's not one person..."

We've obviously got a few guys missing for this series (for) a well-earned rest - Mitchell Marsh

Speaking of the T20I matches against West Indies, Australia skipper Mitchell Marsh said that they want to win the series and give opportunities to new faces. He said (as quoted by Cricket.com.au):

"First and foremost, it's always 'we're representing Australia, we're here to win the series' and culturally, that's how we want to go about it. There will be guys that get opportunities. We've obviously got a few guys missing for this series (for) a well-earned rest."

Mitchell Marsh added that they want the players to be quite flexible and don't want them to be overburdened by the thought of proving themselves. He stated:

"But we want guys to be flexible, fluid, and come together as a team and be really connected. We don't want anyone to come in here and feel like they have to prove themselves. We've really got a strong squad.

"We've got guys that have been on the fringes when those (all-format) guys are around, but in this series they come together as our attack and as our unit, and we've spoken about really being connected and working together, and they'll lead the team."

Australia Playing XI For 1st T20I Against West Indies Announced

Team: Mitchell Marsh (c), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Owen, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa