Jake Fraser-McGurk’s tantalising run of cameos is now a coaching problem more than a case of growing pains for a young prospect.
Yet again he looked sensational when playing conventional cricket shots, driving through cover to the boundary.
And yet again he departed early just when it appeared he would dismantle the bowling attack, throwing his wicket away by trying to blast Jahandad Khan away even though he had already tallied 18 runs, including four boundaries, from his first 10 deliveries.
It didn’t matter as the Aussies cruised to a seven-wicket win in the third T20I against Pakistan on the back of Marcus Stoinis’ unbeaten 61 from 27 deliveries with five fours and just as many sixes.
But with the Fraser-MacGurk conundrum, we are at the point where the coaching staff needs to shoulder the blame for JFM’s streak of being unable to convert his blazing starts into anything substantial.
Someone – whether it’s head coach Andrew McDonald, batting guru Michael DiVenuto, T20 stand-in coach Andre Borovec or the selectors – needs to tell the precocious 22-year-old that it’s OK to let the occasional ball go or collect the odd single rather than continually looking for the highlight play.
It’s not quite as simple as treating every ball on its merits. Sometimes in T20s, you have to take risks but Fraser-McGurk is taking nothing but risks and someone needs to smooth off his rough edges or he will never live up to his potential.
“He’d be so frustrated with himself,” Mark Waugh said on Fox Cricket commentary.
“You still get four if you hit it along the ground. You don’t have to hit so many balls in the air. He is just giving himself too much to do – opening up and trying to make something out of nothing.
“I know it’s a T20 game but I feel someone with his array of shots and talent, I’d love to see him turn it down a notch, the aggression.”
Jake Fraser-McGurk bats during game three in Hobart. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Two Aussie teams a sign of the modern times
The fact that Australia have two teams currently operating at different parts of the country is the kind of scenario that would be unthinkable just a few years ago.
But here we are. The T20 squad has now completed a series sweep over Pakistan with Monday night’s win in Hobart while over in Perth, the Test team has been preparing for Friday’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener against India.
This is not “the new norm” for Australian cricket but it’s the sort of less than ideal scenario that is going to happen from time to time in the ICC’s crowded schedule.
With a World Cup every two years, we are never far away from the next showpiece tournament.
Left-arm quick Spencer Johnson has been the big winner of the new breed of Australian players in this series with eight wickets in the three matches although he would likely need Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood or Pat Cummins to shed the shortest format from their international commitments to get a regular spot in the bowling attack.
He again bowled well to back up his five-wicket haul on Saturday night in Sydney to claim 2-24 as well as a direct hit for a run-out to earn player of the series honours.
Pakistan cobbled together a lacklustre 117 and the Aussies chased the modest target down inside 12 overs with Stoinis giving the crowd plenty of entertainment and cause for concern as he launched the bowlers over the rope on five occasions in a whirlwind knock.
Stars sweat on Maxwell injury
Glenn Maxwell’s BBL campaign with Melbourne Stars is under a cloud after he hobbled off with a hamstring injury in the field.
The 35-year-old all-rounder immediately pulled up, clutching at his left upper leg, after setting off from square leg to cut off a quick single.
He did not pad up in the Australian innings and with the BBL less than a month away, he could be struggling to be fit in time for the Stars’ season opener against the Scorchers.
The Australian medicos diagnosed the tear as “low grade” so if scans show no significant damage, he could be on deck for the December 15 trip to Perth.
Zampa slides past Warne with minimum of fuss
Without fanfare, Adam Zampa has quietly overtaken Shane Warne as Australia’s most prolific spinner in limited overs cricket.
Warne claimed 293 wickets in his ODI career prior to the T20 explosion from 194 matches.
Zampa overtook Warne this series and now has 297 from 201 matches to compare favaourably to the late, great spin king.
The 32-year-old NSW leg-spinner, like most tweakers, is an enigma.
A self-described rare unit, he’s shorn off his latest flowing mullet to go with a bleached-blond crew cut which is part Warne, part Funky Miller.
Zampa has never possessed the prodigious leg break that made Warne such an imposing figure.
His strength has always been his variation either way off the pitch and his ability to mix up his pace while attacking the top of the stumps from a relentless length.
And that’s what happened yet again at Hobart on Monday night as he frustrated Haseebullah into a poor shot and then slid through Babar Adam’s previously impenetrable defences to knock down his castle.
His 2-11 haul was his most economical spell in T20 cricket with the Pakistani batters too fearful to take him on due to his stump to stump line.
Hardie shines but lacks appeal
Aaron Hardie underlined his status as an emerging all-rounder of genuine class with figures of 3-21 but he showed a momentary lack of it when he dismissed Salman Agha.
Hardie trapped the Pakistani batter plumb in front but instead of turning to appeal, he ran down the wicket with arms in the air to celebrate.
It was the kind of gamesmanship that Stuart Broad and Glenn McGrath employed to intimidate umpires when they were in their pomp and hopefully it was just a one-off incident from a player who is making his way in the white-ball formats in the international arena and could become a Test player in the not too distant future.
Down 2-0 in the series with nothing to play for but pride, Pakistan played like a team with one foot on the plane home.
Spencer Johnson removed Sahibzada Farhan cheaply before the visitors reached 1-61 before a 9-56 collapse triggered by Zampa and Hardie.
Babar was brilliant in blazing his way to 41 before being bowled by Zampa while Hardie ran through Usman Khan, Agha and Abbas Afridi in rapid fashion as Pakistan imploded with a comically bad run-out for good measure.
Irfan Khan gave Abbas some “constructive feedback” about the mixed messaging of setting off for a run while screaming no to leave him stranded mid pitch.