Matt Short will miss Australia’s T20I trip of the Caribbean, allowing Jake Fraser-McGurk to return for the five-match series. Short became sore while exercising in Jamaica ahead of the series opener and was sent home after being diagnosed with a slight side strain.
Fraser-McGurk, who was initially left out of the 16-man team, was already on standby, having previously replaced Spencer Johnson, who withdrew owing to back soreness discovered during this year’s IPL.
Fraser-McGurk will try to rekindle his international career, which has produced 113 runs in seven T20Is with a strike rate of 143.03. He made waves in the 2023-24 local One-Day Cup, scoring a world record century off only 29 balls, before making his T20I debut against the West Indies.
Meanwhile, Mitch Owen will make his debut as anticipated, slotting into the middle order. Tim David, who is recovering from a hamstring injury acquired while playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2025, has been sidelined for the first T20I, with Cooper Connolly batting at number seven.
Fraser-McGurk enters the Caribbean series on the back of a mixed campaign with the San Francisco Unicorns in Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025. The Australian side will play five T20Is in nine days, with games across Jamaica and St Kitts.
Matt Short is expected to return in time for Australia’s home white-ball series against South Africa, beginning August 10 in Darwin.
Several senior players, including Travis Head, Alex Carey, and the pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood, are resting after Australia’s 3-0 sweep of the Frank Worrell Trophy.
Aussie skipper Mitch Marsh noted that the Caribbean tour will be a key opportunity for fringe players to make a case for selection ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026, to be held in India and Sri Lanka next February.
“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,” Marsh said to cricket.com.au.
“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,” he added.
Australia playing XI for the first T20I vs West Indies:
Mitch Marsh (c), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Owen, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa
India
