Australia’s David Hussey says fellow spinner Xavier Doherty is maintaining a positive attitude for the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka despite being overlooked for the one-day series against Pakistan.
Doherty took 1-34 in Australia’s first-ever one-day game against Afghanistan in Sharjah on August 25 and was left out of the side for the three-game series against Pakistan, despite being the only frontline spinner in Michael Clarke’s squad.
Pakistan, in contrast, fielded four specialist spinners in the third game of the one-day series in Sharjah on Monday night.
Australia face Pakistan in a three-game T20 series starting in Dubai overnight (0200 AEST) as left-arm spinner Doherty attempts to push his case for World Cup selection.
Left-arm wrist-spinner Brad Hogg and batting allrounders who bowl spin such as Hussey, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron White could make competition tight for places in the side for Australia’s opening World Cup clash with Ireland in Colombo on September 19.
“Xavier hasn’t played much in this trip at the moment but I’m sure he’ll play an important part in the World T20,” says Hussey, who will be crucial to Australia’s title hopes and is the No.3-ranked allrounder in T20 Internationals.
“Xavier is a confidence bowler and he hasn’t played much. But he is bowling lots in the nets so I don’t think he’ll be under-done in that aspect.
“We do rely heavily on Xavier, Brad Hogg, Glenn Maxwell and myself in the spin department. But the strength of Australian cricket for many years has been our fast bowling.
“We’ve got Pat Cummins, Clint McKay and Shane Watson (and Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Starc) contributing to the fast bowling.
“We’ve got a very well-balanced team.”
Hogg, a two-time World Cup winner in one-day cricket, took three wickets in three games in the Sri Lankan T20 premier league last month.
The 41-year-old has always been a lively character with a bounce in his step and his stunning comeback in the Big Bash League last summer for Perth Scorchers – claiming 13 wickets at an average of 14.69 – has only added to the West Australian’s enthusiasm in what has been a remarkable career.
“He is a big-game performer,” Hussey said.
“I’ve been watching a bit of the Sri Lankan premier league. He did well there.
“We need him at his best to actually go through the qualifying rounds and go on to the semi-finals and anything can happen in the final.
“He is always a bubbly personality so he’s good around the group.”