A ‘fearless’ Dan Christian could be Australia’s specialist finisher at the T20 World Cup, according to Sydney Sixers’ coach, Greg Shipperd.
Christian has been recalled from his county season with Nottinghamshire after being named in Australia’s preliminary 29-player squad ahead of the upcoming limited-overs tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh.
And Shipperd, who has just extended his coaching contract at the Sixers, has backed the allrounder to stake a strong claim for a return to the Australian T20 side.
“T20 is a unique format of the game and he's got a unique skill set, as a strong finisher, through the middle and at the back end with the bat,” said Shipperd.
“He's got the capability of bowling a couple of intelligent phase-specific overs, right across those three phases with the ball, super fieldsman, but also there's a wealth of cricketing strategy and knowledge that resides in that brain and he’s a real giver around any team he's involved with.
“If you're going in for a specific tournament, with a couple of World Cups coming up, then I think he's a strong choice.
In form, being strong, a lot of positives going for him. While the squad will be trimmed before Australia departs next month, it appears unlikely Cricket Australia would fly Christian, along with Ben McDermott (Derbyshire), back from England if he was unlikely to make the final cut.
The 38-year-old has been something of a gun-for-hire in the global arena of T20 competitions, with extraordinarily successful stints in India, Pakistan, the Caribbean, the UK and Bangladesh.
He has been part of nine title-winning teams, including current BBL champions, Shipperd’s Sydney Sixers.Shipperd believes the range of Christian’s experience, combined with his aggressive batting, makes him an ideal candidate for the ‘finisher’ role with the bat.
“I think it is indeed a very specialised role and it's about calmness and clarity in the moment and being fearless,” said Shipperd.
And I guess he's at the stage of his career, you know he's using his experience wisely. And he’s sort of not playing for the next year or the next major contract.
“He plays with this fearless yet experienced mindset that allows him to take the best option that's on the board. It's rare for a player to be miked up as he often does in those phases and he's talking the commentators and the viewers through how he's thinking and what he's doing. As a coach that blows my mind.
“It just shows the poise he has and he's using his experience well. And a lot of other players haven't been in those moments and dealt with that pressure and made the call and succeeded and failed. He balances those, yo-yos that this form of the game can throw at you particularly well.”
While Christian has spent several years as a valued player on the franchise circuit, he hasn’t played a T20 International for Australia since 2017 and has only played a total of 16 T20Is.
But Shipperd feels Christian’s knowledge of a wide range of international players could give Australia a tactical edge when the T20 World Cup, still scheduled - although unlikely - to be played in India, begins in October.
“What he also brings to the team is a wealth of experience and strategy and calm in the moments,” Shipperd said.
“And so in pre-planning for oppositions he's often played against many of those players, been in many of the situations that will confront the team in a tournament situation and so he can provide that calming balance or that exemplary performance that he did for the Sixers on four or five occasions last season.
“He presents such a valuable player for a tournament, and the World Cup is a tournament. I would be pushing and promoting him competing strongly for one of those positions.“Mitch Marsh is going as an option, [Marcus] Stoinis is an option, Sean Abbott's an option, so there's talent vying for that position and it's going to be an incredibly difficult choice.
“But now that he's been called back and I guess he's gonna get some game time in the West Indies [I hope] he gives himself a good chance to consolidate the interest that the Australian selectors have in him for that specific role within a tournament in those conditions.”
https://www.sportingnews.com/au/cri...world-cup-finisher/14xdmmj97far21wlh5twe67trt
