We discuss each player separately in Australia’s squad in our latest segment.
As many as 12 teams are participating in this year’s Hong Kong Sixes tournament, and the squads for each side have started to roll out. Australia, one of the sides participating in the competition, have announced a seven-man team to compete in the tournament.
While there are a few popular names, a couple of faces might be new for viewers who don’t follow Australia’s domestic cricket enough. The squad looks decent, with several talented players on show.
We discuss each player separately in Australia’s squad in our latest segment.
Few players in T20 cricket are as experienced as Dan Christian, who will lead the Australian side in the Hong Kong Sixes tournament. He has played for 20 different teams and featured in 409 T20 matches across league and international cricket. He has also been part of 43 international games for Australia, including 20 ODIs and 23 T20Is.
Dan has 391 runs at an average of 18.61 and has taken 33 wickets at a 30.09 average for Australia. He has 5825 runs at an average of 22.66 and a strike rate of 137.73 in 350 T20 innings, including 17 fifties and two centuries. Further, he also has 280 wickets at 28.90 runs apiece, with the help of seven four-wicket and two five-wicket hauls.
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While Alex Ross has never played for Australia in any format, he has ample experience playing domestic cricket and T20 leagues. He has featured in 195 matches across formats for his domestic sides and league teams. His T20 record, where he has played 126 games, is decent.
Ross has 2455 runs at an average of 28.54 and a strike rate of 127.40, including 14 fifties. Earlier in the year, he played in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) and Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and has good exposure to acclimatise to this fast-moving tournament.
Another quality batter with some domestic cricket experience under his belt, Sam Heazlett will provide more variety to Australia’s squad. He is a left-hander batter who will keep the wickets. He has played only a solitary game for Australia in an ODI against New Zealand back in 2017.
However, he has 51 T20 matches experience and has scored 898 runs at an average of 18.70 and a strike rate of 125.59, with the help of three fifties. He has been with Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League for eight seasons. Further, he also has 41 First Class matches, where he averages 29.82 and has four centuries.
A late bloomer in the Australian domestic circuit, Andrew Fekete has been part of Australia’s national Test team but never played international cricket. However, he has a fair bit of experience playing across formats in the domestic arena. He has played 39 First Class matches, taking 128 wickets at 30.69 runs apiece, including four five-wicket and a ten-wicket haul.
He has also played some T20 cricket. Fekete has 10 wickets at an average of 40.50 in 15 T20s. His last domestic game came in 2020 when he played a red-ball fixture in Adelaide.
Jack Wood is primarily a left-arm chinaman bowler who can also bat a bit. He doesn’t have much exposure to competitive cricket at this level, for he has played only two T20s. He scored 14 runs and took two wickets in those games while playing for Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League.
He has been actively playing in local T20 and T10 tournaments, for he has featured in a local T20 tournament named T20 Max Competition and Max60 Caribbean League. He did reasonably well as an all-rounder by contributing with both bat and ball. He will want to continue doing it in this tournament as well.
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Fawad Ahmed, a skilled leg-spinner, has featured in five matches for Australia across ODIs and T20Is. He took 6 wickets at an average of 35.50, with the best of 3/25. While his international career wasn’t long, Fawad has been a veteran in T20 cricket.
He has 172 wickets at 24.75 runs apiece in 164 innings, including two four-wicket hauls. Further, he also has 205 First Class wickets at 31.11 runs apiece and nine five-wicket hauls. He has a range of variations and will look to bring some wrist spin magic to the fastest cricketing format to restrict the batters.
A well-known name in Australia’s domestic circuit, James Pattinson brings a wealth of experience with himself. He debuted for Australia in 2011 and has played for his international side across all three formats. He has played 21 Tests and took 81 wickets at a 26.33 average, 16 wickets at 42.56 in 15 ODIs, and 3 wickets in four T20Is in a stop-start international career.
His last outing for the Australian side came in January 2020 during a Test match against New Zealand. Pattinson has also played 57 T20s and taken 63 wickets at an average of 26.66. He has the pace and will be the lead bowler of Australia in the Hong Kong Sixes tournament.
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