Australia are likely to have to alter their top order for the Champions Trophy semi-final after Matthew Short picked up a quad injury against Afghanistan which is expected to rule him out.
Short suffered the injury late in Afghanistan’s innings and though he did open the batting alongside Travis Head, laboured between the wickets and was largely restricted to trying to hit boundaries.
He managed to club his way to 20 off 15 balls in what became a useful opening stand of 44 in 4.3 overs before being caught at mid-on but captain Steven Smith admitted time wasn’t on Short’s side.
“I think he’ll be struggling,” Smith said at the post-match presentation. “I think we saw tonight he wasn’t moving very well. I think it’s probably going to be too quick between games for him to recover.”
Jake Fraser-McGurk, himself a replacement for the injured Mitchell Marsh, is the spare batter in the squad and would be a like-for-like swap for Short at the top of the order. However, there are other options Australia could consider with allrounder Aaron Hardie a possibility if someone else is moved up to open.
“We’ve got a few guys there to come in and we’ll be able to fill a job,” Smith said.
Cooper Connolly, the left-handed batter and left-arm spinner, is a travelling reserve and could come into the squad if Short was officially ruled out for the rest of the tournament.
Short’s absence would also remove a spin-bowling option from the attack. He did an excellent job against Afghanistan with his seven overs costing just 21. However, Australia do have a number of batters who can bowl spin with Head and Marnus Labuschagne, who took two wickets against England, not used on Friday.
Australia suffered a number of injuries leading into the tournament with Marsh (back), Pat Cummins (ankle), Josh Hazlewood (hip) and Mitchell Starc (ankle) all missing while Marcus Stoinis announced his retirement.
A complicating factor for both the teams who qualify from Group B – South Africa are favourites to join Australia – is that they won’t know whether they are playing the semi-final in Dubai or Lahore until the conclusion of the India-New Zealand game on Sunday night.
Group B finishing positions will be known after South Africa play England on Saturday but while India (Dubai) and New Zealand (Lahore) are locked into their venues for the semi-finals their final group position will determine who they face.
If South Africa beat England and top the group, Australia will play the winner of New Zealand-India; if England win, Australia will face the loser of that game.
Whichever team ends up with the Dubai semi-final they will have little more than 24 hours to prepare. Conditions in Dubai, where India play all their matches, have provided some assistance for the spinners. Australia do have legspinner Tanveer Sangha as another frontline option in their squad.
Playing in Lahore would provide more familiar conditions for Australia with two of their group matches having taken place there including the one victory when they chased 352 against England. But there would still be a chance of them needing to travel to Dubai with the final hosted in the UAE should India qualify, otherwise it will be played in Lahore.
