WTC Final 2023: Australia head coach Andrew McDonald said he’s been mightily impressed, though not surprised, by all-rounder Michael Nesers form for Glamorgan in the ongoing season of County Championship, saying the team is aware of what he can do in red-ball cricket.
As of now, Neser has scored 311 runs and taken 19 wickets, with scores of 123, 86 and 90 so far being a standout from his time in the county championship.
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Neser was left out of the initial 17-man Australia squad for the WTC final and Ashes, but is set to join the team camp ahead of the one-off championship final against India.
“It (Neser’s county form) is very impressive. As I said, it’s not surprising though as we know what he can do. He had an outstanding Sheffield Shield year last year, I think it was 40-odd wickets averaging less than 20.
The more impressive part is probably his batting in the back half of his career, he’s really pressing to be a genuine all-rounder in his own right. He’s probably not a top six, batting all-rounder, but definitely a number seven or eight that can make handy runs and he got 100 a couple of nights ago. We’re well aware of what he can do,” said McDonald on SEN Radio.
Apart from Neser, all-rounder Sean Abbott, who is playing for Surrey in the County Championship, will also join the Australia squad camp ahead of the WTC final.
Australia have time till Sunday to finalise their 15-man squad for the WTC final. The side has concerns in Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh being ready for the showpiece final as the duo have just started to bowl after recovering from minor niggles which caused them to leave IPL 2023 early.
“We knew when he (Hazlewood) went to the IPL that everything would have to go perfectly on the back of the Achilles setback in India and at this stage everything is good. But it will have to go perfect for him to be part of that World Test Championship final and available,” said McDonald.
“We’ve got a clear squad mentality when we released that 17-man squad. I think George (Bailey) made it very clear that there are some checkpoints where we’ll be able to select others and bring others in, and if Josh (Hazlewood) wasn’t tracking well for the World Test Championship final, we’ve got Michael and Sean over there ready to go and we feel it as a bonus that they’re over there playing cricket,” he added.
