NEW DELHI: Former Australian opener David Warner has expressed concerns about Jake Fraser-McGurk‘s recent struggles with the bat and warned him about the potential consequences he might face if he fails to score runs consistently.
Fraser-McGurk, who was given the opportunity to open the batting alongside Matt Short in the three-match ODI series against Pakistan, managed to score only 36 runs at an average of 12.00, which drew significant criticism.
At 22 years old, Fraser-McGurk was seen as a potential successor to Warner in white-ball cricket and was given a chance to stake his claim for the upcoming Champions Trophy.
However, with the expected returns of Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh to the ODI starting XI, Fraser-McGurk’s future selection could face a serious obstacle after his recent outings.
Warner acknowledged that while Fraser-McGurk is content with his approach to the game, he needs to tweak it slightly to get runs on the scoreboard, or else he risks being dropped from the side.
“We were talking about whether his game plan will change. Well, it won’t. He’s happy with the way that he approaches the game, (but) he’d like a few more runs,” Warner told Fox Cricket. “If you’re not scoring runs, the solution to that is you’re going to get dropped. That method he thinks is going to work for him, but sometimes you might have to tinker with that a little bit if you’re not scoring runs.”
Former Australian wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist advised Fraser-McGurk to adopt a more cautious approach with the new ball before unleashing his attacking prowess.
Gilchrist believes that Fraser-McGurk is a better player than he has shown and urged him to respect the new ball in longer formats, drawing comparisons to Warner’s approach.
Despite his struggles, Gilchrist praised Fraser-McGurk’s talent and described him as “dynamite” and “box office,” suggesting that he should not be afraid to back off a bit and play according to the situation rather than trying to meet expectations.
In the T20I series opener against Pakistan, Fraser-McGurk scored only nine runs off five balls. However, Australia won the match by 29 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.
