Patient Abbott content to bide his time in Aussie squad

Sean Abbott is more than happy to continue biding his time on the sidelines, if it means he spends more time in the Australian set up.

Abbott was called into Australia's line-up for the second Dettol ODI against New Zealand in Cairns on Thursday after selectors decided not to risk Cameron Green following the allrounder's heroics in game one.

The New South Welshman made the most of his chance, playing a starring role in the Aussies' thumping 113-run win, taking 2-1 off five overs which included four consecutive maidens.

It has been a frustrating few years for Abbott, who has spent a lot of time in national squads without getting many opportunities to play, with the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood and at various times Green, Kane Richardson, Jhye Richardson, Michael Neser, Nathan Ellis and others all vying for the same pace-bowling spots.

Abbott was in the Test squad for 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India, staying with the team for the four Tests but not featuring except for a few stints as substitute fielder.

And while he wasn't in Australia's Ashes squad for the summer just gone, the 30-year-old was back in the touring party for the trips to Pakistan (March-April) and Sri Lanka (June-July) that followed.

Yet Abbott is maintaining a positive outlook on his position in the group.

"That's the nature of the beast with being in an Australian squad," Abbott told reporters on Thursday night.

"I'd much rather be in the squad than not in the squad. It's a really good environment at the moment.

"It can be tough sometimes (when you're) not playing but (it's a) great bunch of lads, I'm really close with a lot of them."

A lot of those strong relationships can be traced back to NSW, where so many of the current Australian squad hail from.

Opening bowler Starc, who took two wickets himself, played in Abbott's first-class debut in 2011 and was thrilled to see his long-time teammate have some success. 

"I've seen 'Seany' go about his business for a long time now," Starc told cricket.com.au after the win in game two.

"He's been waiting for his chance on the 'Top End' tour here and tonight he showed his skill.

"He was really calm and he knew what he needed to do.

"I've seen him bowl some really elite stuff and tonight it was that again."

After making both his ODI and T20I debuts as a 22-year-old way back in 2014, chances for the bowling allrounder have been few and far between.

In almost a decade of international cricket, he now was 14 internationals to his name; eight T20Is and six ODIs.

Abbott played all three one-dayers in Australia's 2-1 series loss away to Pakistan but like most bowlers, struggled to make an impact on the batter-friendly Lahore pitch.

His ODI bowling average leading into Thursday's match at Cazalys Stadium was 78.00. After two wickets for one run, it has plummeted to 47.00.

And Abbott said it was pleasing to play on a pitch that in contrast was more conducive to fast bowling.

"I'm really chuffed with how tonight went," Abbott said.

"Josh (Hazlewood) just mentioned that, he was like, "it's pretty good for the average", and I bloody needed it after Pakistan.

"But there were some good learnings at the same time.

"It was pretty batter-friendly against some bloody good batters. But they're the contests you want at this level.

"There'll be plenty of cricket played in the subcontinent moving forward, and we need to be adaptable and change the way we approach things compared to the way you might do them at home."

Men's Dettol ODI Series v New Zealand

Tuesday, Sep 6: Australia won by two wickets

Thursday, Sep 8: Australia won by 113 runs

Sunday Sep 11: Cazaly Stadium, Cairns, 2:20pm

Australia squad: Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Aaron Finch (c), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

New Zealand squad: Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Tim Southee, Kane Williamson (c)

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