Fraser-McGurk to fill Warner shoes

MELBOURNE:

Jake Fraser-McGurk will bid to fill the vacuum left by David Warner at the top of Australia's batting order after being confirmed in the white-ball squads for the tour of Britain in September.

Warner bowed out of international cricket with Australia's exit from the T20 World Cup, and the hard-hitting Fraser-McGurk has been seen as his natural successor following his sensational Indian Premier League campaign.

Uncapped in T20Is, Fraser-McGurk was included in Australia's World Cup squad as a reserve player but never got a chance to shine on the global stage.

The 22-year-old was named in both Australia's T20 and ODI squads on Monday for the tour which starts Sept. 4 with three T20s against Scotland in Edinburgh.

The tour then heads south for another three T20s and five ODIs against England.

Mitchell Marsh will captain both the white-ball squads, with pace bowler Pat Cummins sitting out the tour to rest for the five-test India series over the home summer.

Uncapped Western Australian Cooper Connolly, a 20-year-old batsman, has been called up for his first squad, while Matthew Wade and Ashton Agar have been omitted as selectors look to the future.

Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (capt), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Australia ODI squad: Mitch Marsh (capt), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

All over for Warner

David Warner won't be considered for next year's ODI Champions Trophy after he said he would be open to playing the tournament despite announcing his international retirement.

As Warner did in January when he said last year's ODI World Cup would mark the end of his career in the format, he repeated his call about the Champions Trophy in a recent social media post following the end of the T20 World Cup which marked the conclusion of his Australia career. But George Bailey, Australia's national selector, said Warner was considered fully retired and the legacy he has left as an all-format player should be appreciated.

"Our understanding is that David is retired, and [he] should be commended on what has been an incredible career across all three formats," Bailey said. "Certainly, our planning is that he won't be there in Pakistan.

"You never know when Bull's joking…think he's just stirring the pot a bit. He's had a wonderful career, can't celebrate it enough, and think as time goes by, his legacy of what he has done for Australia and we reflect back on that, the legend of a player is only going to continue to grow. But as far as this team goes and the journey to transition to some different players, in his case across all three formats, it's going to be exciting."

However, Bailey added that the selectors were not moving on from other players around white-ball cricket even as they shifted focus to the future, particularly with the T20I squad for the tours of Scotland and England which featured a call up for Cooper Connolly and Jake Fraser-McGurk, following the Super Eight exit in West Indies.