Mix-and-match Australia face tough assignment at T20 World Cup | Geoff Lemon

The world’s best have been honing their 20-over games since 2016 but it is hard to draw the impression that Australia have done the same

Once upon a time, picking an Australian limited-overs team was easy. You could drop a captain like Mark Taylor or Steve Waugh because there was a rank of replacements waiting for that spot. Your all-rounder could be Andrew Symonds or Ian Harvey or Shane Lee. Bat Michael Bevan at five or at six? Put your wicketkeeper up to open? Test spearhead like Glenn McGrath or white-ball operator like Nathan Bracken? It didn’t really matter. Whatever you did, Australia would mostly win.

That was in 50-over cricket. Since the third format arrived, condensed to 20, Australia’s selectors have stared at it with brows furrowed in puzzlement, like Brendan Fraser’s time-travelling Cro-Magnon man trying to comprehend toothpaste. Most often, the approach has more or less been to pick the Test pace attack, one leg-spinner, and the most prolific Big Bash run-scorers, with a couple of hierarchy picks of Test batters who don’t have time to play domestic short stuff. We’ll see it again at this year’s T20 World Cup.

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