Australia has a T20 World Cup title defence sneaking up, with the squad just announced. And one surprise inclusion goes against all Aussie selection convention.
It’s less than 50 days until the 2022 T20 World Cup kicks off, with host nation Australia looking to defend its 2021 title.
The squad is in, headlined by the stars of last year’s tournament Mitch Marsh and David Warner, but there’s one uncapped name whose rise to an inaugural Aussie squad appearance is certainly not typical – Tim David.
He’s a familiar name to those who follow the BBL, having lit up the league in the past two seasons as a specialist ‘finisher’ – creating a reputation as a powerful ball striker at the end of an innings.
While he debuted for the Perth Scorchers nearly five years ago in BBL|07, David properly burst onto the scene in his debut match for the Hobart Hurricanes two summers ago, with a Player of the Match-winning 58 from 33 balls.
David finished that BBL|10 season with 279 runs at a strike rate of 153, which was more than enough to put him on the radar as an international recruit for Surrey in England’s domestic one-day competition, where he was signed as an injury replacement player.
The status of his call-up didn’t matter, however, as David scored two centuries in his ten games with Surrey – including a stunning knock of 140 from just 70 balls – and finished his stint with 340 runs at an average of 68 and a strike rate of 150.44.
Since then, David has added to his CV with another brilliant BBL season for the Hurricanes – where he hit 218 runs at a strike rate of 163 – as well as campaigns throughout 2021 in T20 competitions in Pakistan, the Caribbean, the IPL and a title-winning stint in The Hundred.
Embed from Getty ImagesThis breadth of experience, as well as the proficiency of his performances across the board, landed him an incredible $1.53m AUD IPL contract for 2022 with the Mumbai Indians; the most expensive Australian player purchased, ahead of the likes of David Warner, Mitch Marsh and Pat Cummins.
It’s hardly the traditional route to an Australian T20 squad, based on that of any of its current members.
With the emergence of domestic T20 and limited-overs competitions around the world comes the emergence of white-ball ‘freelancers’, as many describe them, such as long-time BBL star Chris Lynn. David certainly fits into that category, as he’s without an Australian state contract, but he could be a trendsetter in this way.
Lynn has played 22 matches for Australia, 18 T20s and four ODIs. But due to his ‘freelance’ approach to where and for whom he plays his cricket, he has often been overlooked by Aussie selectors.
The decision to include David, however, marks a shift away from this selection mentality and toward picking players based on talent and performance, regardless of the level at which that takes place.
Chairman of Selectors George Bailey hinted at this upon the squad announcement on Thursday, highlighting David’s breadth of success in the T20 format broadly.
The lack of convention behind David’s inclusion in the squad doesn’t just involve his own path, though.
Australia’s squad is stacked with top-order batters, with Finch and Warner as Australia’s first-choice openers. There’s also Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis and Matthew Wade as options. As a result, Australia’s selection method has typically reverted to a ‘best-suited’ style; with the more versatile batters pushed down the order.
With David, however, Australia now boasts a genuine and proven lower-order ‘finisher’, which will be an interesting factor when the T20 World Cup rolls around.
Will Australia select Tim David as a specialist for that lower-order position, or continue with the approach that, barring a World Cup win last year, has constantly plagued its T20 sides?
David’s path to the Aussie squad has bucked the trends and conventions, and a T20 debut would do the same.
