LAHORE, Mar 2: Australia may need to find a new opener for next week’s Champions Trophy semi-finals with Matt Short in a race against time.
Matt Short looks set to miss Australia’s Champions Trophy semi-final against India after his injury proved the only downside to their rain-helped rush into the last-four in Pakistan, the Cricket Australia reported.
After the in-form opener suffered a quad injury in the field and hobbled his way to a brisk 20 off 15 balls in the washout against Afghanistan in Lahore on Friday, captain Steve Smith said he didn’t think the Adelaide Strikers star would be fit to play in next week’s semi-final.
Smith told Prime Video after Friday’s match, which Australia had dominated before the downpour: “I think he’ll be struggling.
“I think we saw tonight he wasn’t moving very well. I think it’s probably going to be too quick between games for him to recover.”
Australia will play their semi against India in Dubai on Tuesday.
Smith’s side currently lead group B by a point from South Africa, who can knock them down to second with victory over England in Saturday’s final group match in Karachi.
Short’s absence would necessitate a change at the top of the order, with Smith suggesting: “We’ve got a few guys there to come in to fill a job.”
Big-hitting Jake Fraser-McGurk is in the squad and could come in as a like-for-like replacement if it’s felt he’s not too much of a risk after his two failures in the recent ODI series in Sri Lanka.
All-rounder Aaron Hardie is another option in Australia’s squad, while Cooper Connolly could be activated as the travelling reserve if Short’s injury is serious enough to prevent him playing any further part in the tournament.
The 29-year-old Short had impressed in the opening match against England, setting the tone in their record-breaking chase with 63 off 66 balls, before Josh Inglis and Alex Carey carried Australia to victory.
As his team chased down Afghanistan’s 273 on Friday and set out with real intent to try to beat the rain on Friday, he also started well, taking advantage of a spilt catch as he smacked a six and three fours.
At the other end Travis Head, who also got away with being dropped early, raced to an unbeaten 59 before the rains came at 1-109 with the Australians in charge.
(UNI)
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