NEW DELHI: Ahead of Australia playing three ODIs against Pakistan at home, right-handed batter Matthew Short has put his hand up to captain the side in the T20I leg of the white-ball series.
Though Pat Cummins will lead Australia in ODIs against Pakistan, there’s no word yet on who could take over the leadership mantle for the T20I series, as Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head are on paternity leave. Short has prior leadership experience via being the leader of his BBL side Adelaide Strikers.
“Yeah, definitely (I’m interested). I’ve done it for a little bit now with the Adelaide Strikers and really enjoyed being involved in making some of the calls. The communication (from selectors) at the moment is just (within) a bit of a leadership group – they still haven’t made up their mind, but if it was me they wanted, I’d definitely put my hand up for it, ” said Short to reporters.
He also spoke about the opportunity to face the Pakistan side, coached by Jason Gillespie, who was his long-term mentor at the Adelaide Strikers. " It’s a little bit (unnerving) – I’ve probably had him for six or seven years, and he’s probably a big reason why I’m here today.”
"Like, giving me the opportunity in Adelaide and to open the batting, so he's seen plenty of me batting in the nets and in games and I'm sure he's going to hand that onto some of their bowlers. He knows me like the back of his hand so … we'll see how we go."
With an eye to own the ODI opener slot due to David Warner’s retirement, especially with Champions Trophy happening next year, Short also expressed his aspirations to play Test cricket for Australia in future. “I’m always looking for that Test cap, it’s always something I’ve aspired to. I’ve had the question a few times recently – it’s been really hard trying to get back-to-back games, in Shield cricket especially.”
“Playing white-ball cricket for Australia, that’s probably been the priority for the last couple of years, but when the time comes to play Shield cricket, I’ll definitely give it my all. I’ll try to score runs and take wickets, and we’ll see what happens.”
“I probably need a couple of Shield games under the belt just to see where I’m at and get those days under my legs and see how the body holds up. There’s a lot of cricket to be played before then … I’d definitely put my hand up.”