Short targets openers slot for Australia

T20 cricket

Australia batsman D’Arcy Short has told coach Justin Langer that he wants to open the batting in all three formats.

Short spoke to the coach well ahead of the first training sessions at the national performance centre in Brisbane as the team prepare for the winter’s white ball assignments in England and Zimbabwe.

Australia will need to settle on an opening partner for Aaron Finch in the shorter formats while David Warner’s suspension may yet open the door for short to break into the Test fold.

Langer told cricket.com.au last month: “(Short) said to me, ‘Mate, I just want you to know, I want to be an opening batsman’.

“I said, ‘Really?’.

“He said, ‘Yep, that’s what I want to do. I want to commit to that. I want to be an opening batsman in red-ball cricket as well’.

“For me, that’s a great sign. He’s starting to grow, starting to blossom.”

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Langer himself is keen to weigh up the options available to him putting Travis Head and Marcus Stoinis in the frame while Glenn Maxwell has done the job in T20I cricket.

The coach said after training in Brisbane on Saturday: “Travis Head has done very well up the top, Marcus Stoinis has done well – so there’s plenty of options there.

“The truth is, in one-day and Twenty20 cricket, the best place to bat is opening, and there’s plenty of blokes who can do that.

“What we need to find is guys who can bat four, five, six, seven, who can have an impact as well. “There’s plenty of options and we’ll work through that in the next little bit.”

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