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Who will be in Australia's T20 World Cup squad in 2020?

10th February, 2018
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Australian cricketer David Warner. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
Expert
10th February, 2018
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Let’s say it’s the year 2020 today and the Australian T20 squad is selected on current form.

First cab off the rank would be David Warner as skipper despite the fact he’s scored only 14 runs off 19 deliveries in four visits to the crease, but those four outings have resulted in four successive heavy defeats of the opposition thanks to Warner’s positive and aggressive leadership.

The Australians beat India at Guwahati by eight wickets with 27 balls remaining, beat the Kiwis at the SCG by seven wickets with 21 balls remaining, beat England in Hobart by five wickets with nine left and beat England again at the MCG by seven wickets with 33 deliveries left. Comprehensive.

Some team is going to pay for Warner’s run of outs. He’s far too good a batsman in all conditions and formats to be denied.

The next big selection is what to do with Steve Smith, currently being rested for the South African tour. He’s one of the world’s best batsmen, and he is flexible enough to fit any format. His fielding also among the world’s best. He must be picked.

But Warner is to captain the side.

(AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

The Australian batting strength and depth is awesome. Aaron Finch must be selected as a floater between one and six in the batting order. Exciting newcomer D’Arcy Short has cemented his place as Warner’s opening partner with his accurate left-arm spinners an added bonus.

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Then two of the most explosive batsmen in T20 cricket – Chris Lynn and Glenn Maxwell – pick themselves. And Usman Khawaja, for so long overlooked as a limited-overs batsman, must also be in the mix.

But Marcis Stoinis looms as a casualty in the playing XI to make way for Smith. Stoinis is another explosive batsman, but his medium-pacers and his fielding aren’t strong enough to demand frontline selection.

Alex Carey is by far the best bet as wicketkeeper with his glovework exceptional, and his batting offers a lot more stability and a greater run rate than Tim Paine.

No World Cup in any format can afford to leave out the big three quicks – Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood – to join the tall-timber Billy Stanlake.

(Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

That means Andrew Tye and Kane Richardson become casualties among the current crop, leaving Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa, two vastly different spinners, to do battle for one spot. Agar is a quality batsman and fieldsman, giving him the inside running.

So the 15-man squad would look like this: David Warner (c), D’Arcy Short, Chris Lynn, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Billy Stanlake.

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Starc, Stanlake, Cummins, and Agar take care of 16 overs, leaving the other four to a mix of Short, Maxwell, and Finch.

There are ten batsmen capable of heavy hitting, leaving a strong back-up of Usman Khawaja, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa to make up the 15-man squad. That’s a World Cup-winning team.

Bring on 2020 for T20 for a first-time Australian victory in seven attempts at the shortest format.

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