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Young opener Jake Fraser-McGurk was the talk of the town when he was about to make his debut in international cricket. After proving his mettle in domestic cricket and the Big Bash League (BBL), he impressed everyone by thrashing bowlers for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. However, several months later, he is yet to find his groove on the international stage. In the ongoing ODI series against Pakistan, he has looked like a pale shadow of himself. Amidst widespread criticism about not respecting the conditions and being branded as a slogger, Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has defended the 22-year-old.
"He hasn't got off to the start he wants in this series, and Jake (Fraser McGurk) is not the finished article either,” McDonald said after the nine-wicket loss to Pakistan.
"Everyone thinks he may be the finished article, but he's going on a journey with his career and we believe he's good enough to play at this level at this point in time.
"But clearly there's always going to be some setbacks within that."
Australia have a clear plan
Fraser-McGurk registered scores of 13 and 16 in the first two ODIs. His maiden fifty in international cricket came against England in T20Is in September. He will have a chance to prove himself in the series decider at Perth Stadium.
"We go to Perth with a clear plan, a clear method," McDonald said.
"We're committed to the style we want to play. The big thing about that is we've won 16 out of the last 19 games, and we've got some changing personnel within that but we believe in the style we want to play as a group.”
Dismissals while playing defensive strokes
McDonald also defended the attacking approach. He also pointed out that the openers departed trying to defend against the new-ball bowlers instead of flashing their bats.
"If you looked at the dismissals today there was some defensive strokes in that," the 43-year-old said.
"It's just finding that balance, and we've had great success with the style we want to play at the top of the order to make sure we're putting pressure on opposition bowling units.
"Sometimes that can work, and over the journey so far it's served us well.”
