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It will be a different look and “fresh faced” Australian XI that take to the park at Kingsmead in Durban to face South Africa on Thursday morning AEST, as three debutants are named alongside first-time international captain Mitch Marsh.
The uncapped trio are Victorian Matt Short who will open the batting alongside Travis Head, Western Australia’s Aaron Hardie to join an already impressive list of all-rounders, and left-arm pace rookie Spencer Johnson to complete his rapid ascent to the international stage.
Spencer Johnson, who at 27 has looked on from the outside of South Australia’s state team as he battled a spate of injuries through his early and mid-20s, completes what has been a meteoric rise that started with a breathtaking Big Bash League series.
Johnson has gone on to participate in The Hundred in the UK, as well as T20 leagues in the United States and Canada.
But it will be his debut in Australian colours on Wednesday that serves to demonstrate the rarefied air he is held in by state and national selectors as a potential replacement for national team incumbent Mitchell Starc.
Spencer Johnson. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
“Someone who bowls at high speed and can swing the new ball,” said Travis Head, Johnson’s Redbacks captain, speaking to cricket.com.au. “He’s done it over the last couple of tournaments now over the last couple of months.
“His body is good, he’s bowling fast, so hopefully he can be that guy for us at the top of the bowling innings, similar to someone like Starcy for us who can be a match-winner with taking wickets.”
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Hardie finally pushes his way into the Australian side, the first step in fulfilling his potential as an all-format player – though one who nevertheless has been overshadowed by WA teammates Cameron Green and Lance Morris.
The 24-year-old has been consistently impressive across all three Western Australia teams, as well as performing for Australia A against New Zealand’s A team earlier this year. Hardie will also be playing in front of extended family.
“Three T20s in Durban is pretty special to me,” Hardie told cricket.com.au. “My Mum sort of grew up over here; grandma and granddad lived over here for a fair chunk of their lives.
“Granddad is still over here at the moment, so I was able to catch up with him yesterday which was really cool. I hadn’t seen him in 13-14 years, so it’s a pretty special trip.”
Short has been making a name for himself across the international T20 circuit. He has already this year played for Washington Freedom in the inaugural MLC in America, the Northern Superchargers in Britain’s The Hundred, and six matches in the IPL for the Punjab Kings as a late replacement for England’s Jonny Bairstow.
Josh Inglis will take the gloves over late call-up Matthew Wade, while all-rounders Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Sean Abbott, and Nathan Ellis fill out the middle order ahead of specialist spin bowler Adam Zampa.
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Despite the three debutants and lack of Australia’s traditional core white-ball team – with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, David Warner, Josh Hazlewood, and Cameron Green all absent with either injury or having a well-earned rest – the team to face South Africa is nevertheless representative of the depth of Australia’s reserves.
No more so than first-time captain, Mitch Marsh, who will captain Australia through both the South African three-match T20I series and the following five-match ODI series.
Marsh steps into the role after Cummins was ruled out of the South African tour with a wrist complaint and Smith was ruled out of the ODI series with his own wrist problem.
And while it will not be Marsh’s first time captaining a side – having led Australia’s Under-19 World Cup-winning team at 18 and taking over from Western Australian legend Adam Voges as skipper of his state team.
But the 31-year-old will face a challenge of a much greater scale as he leads Australia in both white-ball formats over the next month and prepares for a potential tenure into the future.
Mitchell Marsh. (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
Taking over from the retired Aaron Finch, Cummins was named as captain for the ODI squad to participate in the upcoming ODI World Cup in India in October, but neither he nor Cricket Australia have committed to his retaining that role beyond the showpiece tournament.
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Marsh heads to South Africa with a month to demonstrate his ability to not only play as one of the world’s most dangerous and explosive all-rounders in the short game, but captain his country.
Absent many of Australia’s star players, fans of the Big Bash series will nevertheless hold out a lot of hope for this Australian T20 team, and Marsh in particular. And for those of us who have been carrying the Marsh torch for both Mitch and his older brother Shaun, this series serves as a long-overdue reward for one of Australia’s most belittled and overlooked players.
Maybe more importantly, however, is the possibility that this represents a sea change in the mindset of Australia’s selectors, letting youth and performance weigh out over the traditional boys club of selectors’ past.
