Australia’s tour of UK chance to explore newer guys in T20Is, says George Bailey

Melbourne, July 15 (IANS) Chief selector George Bailey has said Australia’s tour of United Kingdom is a great opportunity to explore what newer guys bring to the table, especially in the T20I format.
All-rounder Cooper Connolly has been handed his first international call-up through Australia’s T20I squad to face Scotland and England in September. Young batting sensation Jake Fraser-McGurk, largely seen as a successor of David Warner, has been included in both T20I and ODI squads.Xavier Bartlett, Spencer Johnson and Aaron Hardie also get chances to stake their claim for a consistent run in Australia’s T20I scheme of things, with an eye to prepare for the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, to be hosted by India and Sri Lanka.”It didn’t feel like we needed to completely rip it apart and start from scratch. There’s some world class players that have been there and will continue to be there, but it’s also a great opportunity to start to explore some other guys.””The T20 and one-day squads that we’re taking to the UK, a lot of the guys either haven’t been on a tour or haven’t had a great deal of opportunity and can now start to get some games playing for Australia.””This is a really important series … (for) a number of guys who have been on tours, played one or two games but haven’t had a great deal of opportunity yet. It’ll be exciting to see a number of players, including some of the fast bowlers, we’ve been impressed by what they’ve shown in a short space of time,” said Bailey to reporters.Speaking of Fraser-McGurk’s call-up, Bailey remarked he looks forward to see how he steps up to the challenge of playing international