‘Frustrating’: Aussie star running out of chances as reality of World Cup squeeze sinks in
By his own admission, it’s been a frustrating 12 months for Matthew Short.
With Australia’s Test stars managed ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign, the Victorian was gifted a golden opportunity at the top of the order for last summer’s ODI series against Pakistan, but only managed scores of 1, 19 and 22.
A few months later, he struck a career-best 63 from 66 balls during Australia’s Champions Trophy clash against England, opening the batting in the absence of injured captain Mitchell Marsh. However, he was sidelined for the semi-finals due to a quad strain, prematurely ending his tournament.
During the winter, Short was ruled out of Australia’s T20 tour of the West Indies and the multi-format series against South Africa with a side injury, returning for the recent white-ball tour of New Zealand. But he struggled on the other side of the Tasman Sea, posting scores of 29, 2* and 7 against the Black Caps.
Even at domestic level, the 29-year-old hasn’t been getting the runs he would have liked, scoring 0, 20 and 12 for Victoria in the One-Day Cup.
Regardless, the national selectors have shown faith in the right-hander, batting him at No. 3 for Sunday’s rain-affected series opener against India at Perth Stadium.
But once again Short couldn’t seize his chance, removed by spinner Axar Patel for a scratchy 8 from 17 balls — his dismissal was a diagonal-batted hack outside off stump with no footwork that ballooned delicately towards short third man. Earlier that afternoon, his lone over during India’s innings conceded 17 runs.
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Short, the Big Bash League’s leading run-scorer from 2022 to 2024, fits into the blueprint for Australia’s ODI team — a powerful slugger, a gun fielder and a handy bowling option for turning surfaces — but when donning canary yellow, he has averaged 16.46 with the bat and 71.50 with the ball since the start of November last year.
He’s expected to be selected for Thursday’s second ODI against India at Adelaide Oval, but he’s running out of time to cement his spot in the national 50-over side ahead of the 2027 World Cup in South Africa.
“It’s been frustrating,” Short confessed while speaking to reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday.
“I still feel like I’m moving well. I’m feeling good out in the middle
“Just haven’t got the runs on the board. But hopefully they come soon. It’s been a frustrating year in terms of getting that continuous cricket.”
Australia’s Matthew Short. Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFPSource: AFP
Short prefers opening the batting in white-ball cricket, but Marsh and Travis Head aren’t budging from the top of the order, meaning his best chance of a World Cup call-up will come lower down the order.
The recent retirement of Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis has created plenty of vacancies in the middle order, but batter Matthew Renshaw and all-rounder Mitchell Owen are also jostling for positions in the ODI team.
And with wicketkeeper Josh Inglis and all-rounder Cameron Green expected to slot back into the ODI when they recover from injury, Short could be the unlucky player squeezed out of the starting XI.
“It’s always going to be tough to get a spot in the XI and I’ll take whatever that is, whether it’s opening, batting at three or wherever,” Short explained.
“It’s just staying flexible and trying to bat wherever you’re put and be able to take that.
“Especially the last few years, I’m so used to opening the batting and batting in that top order, but batting a three is not too dissimilar.
“If it was to come through the middle, you’d probably need to prep a bit for that, but it’s something I’ve done before in the past. If that came to happen, I’d definitely take it.”
Following Sunday’s series finale against India at the SCG, Australia doesn’t have another ODI scheduled until a white-ball tour of Pakistan in March — this week could prove a turning point in Short’s international career.
The second ODI between Australia and India gets underway at Adelaide Oval on Thursday at 2.30pm AEDT.
