For Jake Fraser-McGurk, the last 12 months have been nothing short of a fairytale. The youngster has grown leaps and bounds, put in the hard yards and broke into the Australian team in the recently-concluded ODI series against West Indies.
On Tuesday, February 6, Fraser-McGurk blazed away to 41 off 18 in the third game at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. On the back of his knock, the hosts won by 8 wickets with 259 balls to spare.
After making an impressive start to his ODI career, the 21-year-old now aspires to don the national jersey in all 3 formats.
“I said to (South Australia coach) Jason Gillespie: ‘I want to be a three-format player for Australia later in my career’. That’s my goal, I’m working towards that. That’s the reason why I moved to South Australia âæ I wanted to get a fresh start,” Fraser-McGurk told cricket.com.au.
“But I didn’t think it was going to happen as quick as this and to get one format under my belt now is amazing. Twelve months is a long time in cricket and to be rewarded with some selection, it’s really pleasing to me and my family.”
Jake Fraser-McGurk’s rise to prominence
After playing in the 2020 U19 World Cup in South Africa, McGurk earned his maiden Big Bash League (BBL) contract with the Melbourne Renegades that year. But it was 2023 that turned around Fraser-McGurk’s career.
Back in October, the youngster grabbed the limelight after he notched the fastest hundred in List A cricket off 29 balls, breaking AB de Villiers’ record. Opening the batting for South Australia in their Marsh Cup match against Tasmania, Fraser-McGurk raced his way to scoring 125 runs off 38 balls with 10 fours and 13 sixes.
McGurk grew in stature after he finished as the leading run-scorer for the Renegades, who could not advance to the playoffs last season. In 9 matches, he scored 257 runs at an average of 31.12 and a strike-rate of 158.64 with a top score of 70 to his name.
Information before aggression
Fraser-McGurk likes throwing caution to the wind, but there’s a method to his madness. The Young Turk said that he prefers to give himself time early on before going for his extravagant shots. Once he found his rhythm, the West Indies bowlers had very little clue about how to stop him.
“I don’t think it differs at all, my mindset’s just go out there, watch the ball as hard as I can and react to it, and my reactions are slightly more aggressive than most.
“So if it looks like I’m going out there just trying to slog everything, it might look like that, but really, there’s some thought behind it and some risk and reward and (I’m) trying to weigh up,” he said.
“I actually gave myself a few balls early on, enough to get some information off the wicket. And then I was like, ‘Alright, I can expand it now’. Those little learnings from one game to another is crucial, and it’s going to be massive for my game going forward,” McGurk added.
McGruk isn’t a part of the T20 squads, neither against the West Indies nor against New Zealand. However, given the kind of potential he has shown of late, it would not be surprising if Australia brought McGurk into their T20I squad after the T20 World Cup later this year.
It should also not raise eyebrows if McGurk gets called up to the World Cup squad.
The future looks bright for Jake Fraser-McGurk!
