David Warner has effectively anointed Australian star Jake Fraser-McGurk as his successor at the top of Australia’s T20 batting order via social media.
Warner, with a beer in hand, posed for a selfie of alongside Fraser-McGurk in St Lucia, with the caption: “All yours now champion”.
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The picture comes a day after Australia was eliminated from the T20 World Cup in what doubled as Warner’s final international game for the nation.
Warner averaged 25.43 runs across Australia’s seven games at the tournament, with a top score of 53* against Bangladesh.
With Warner’s departure from the international scene complete, the door is now open for Fraser-McGurk to take over at the top of the order in the T20 format.
Fraser-McGurk was considered unlucky not to be included in Australia’s 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup considering his absurd form in the IPL.
However, he was eventually added to the team as a reserve player alongside Matt Short.
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The 22-year-old, who had not played an international T20 fixture, was signed as an injury replacement player by the Delhi Capitals but went on to make a serious name for himself.
He blasted 259 runs from six knocks with a strike rate of 233.33, including an explosive 84 from 27 balls against the Mumbai Indians.
It’s not just in T20 cricket where Fraser-McGurk excels, either.
The right-hander tonked a record-breaking 29-ball century in the Marsh Cup for South Australia last year and was the Melbourne Renegades’ top scorer across BBL 13.
At the time of the World Cup snubbing, Fraser-McGurk had a mature stance on the matter.
“There’s two ways you can look at it,” Fraser-McGurk said on the Willow Talk podcast.
“You can look at it through, ‘This is what I’ve done to prove my case,’ and then there’s also, ‘Look, a month and a half ago I wasn’t even in the picture.’”