Australia may need to find a new opener for next week's Champions Trophy semi-finals with Matt Short in a race against time
Injured Short set to miss Champs Trophy semi-final
Matt Short looks set to miss Australia's Champions Trophy semi-final against either India or New Zealand after his injury proved the only downside to their rain-helped rush into the last-four in Pakistan.
After the in-form opener suffered a quad injury in the field and hobbled his way to a brisk 20 off 15 balls in the washout against Afghanistan in Lahore on Friday, captain Steve Smith said he didn't think the Adelaide Strikers star would be fit to play in next week's semi-final.
Smith told Prime Video after Friday's match, which Australia had dominated before the downpour: "I think he'll be struggling.
"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."
Australia will play their semi either against India in Dubai on Tuesday or against New Zealand on Wednesday in Lahore, but they won't know their destination or opponents until Sunday night.
Smith's side currently lead group B by a point from South Africa, who can knock them down to second with victory over England in Saturday's final group match in Karachi.
There's even an outlandish possibility Afghanistan could still finish second behind Australia and qualify, but only if England hand the Proteas a thrashing that, statistically, looks wholly unlikely.
But no match-ups can be decided anyway until after Sunday's group A shootout between favourites India and New Zealand in Dubai, with the victors of that one set to top the group and play the second-placed side in the other pool.
Either way, Short's absence would necessitate a change at the top of the order, with Smith suggesting: "We've got a few guys there to come in to fill a job."
Big-hitting Jake Fraser-McGurk is in the squad and could come in as a like-for-like replacement if it's felt he's not too much of a risk after his two failures in the recent ODI series in Sri Lanka.
Allrounder Aaron Hardie is another option in Australia's squad, while Cooper Connolly could be activated as the travelling reserve if Short's injury is serious enough to prevent him playing any further part in the tournament.
The 29-year-old Short had impressed in the opening match against England, setting the tone in their record-breaking chase with 63 off 66 balls, before Josh Inglis and Alex Carey carried Australia to victory.
As his team chased down Afghanistan's 273 on Friday and set out with real intent to try to beat the rain on Friday, he also started well, taking advantage of a spilt catch as he smacked a six and three fours.
At the other end Travis Head, who also got away with being dropped early, raced to an unbeaten 59 before the rains came at 1-109 with the Australians in charge.
2025 ICC men's Champions Trophy standings
Round 1
Group A
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.715 | 0 | 6 |
|
2
NZ
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.267 | 0 | 4 |
|
3
BAN
|
3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | -0.443 | 0 | 1 |
|
4
PAK
|
3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | -1.087 | 0 | 1 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
Group B
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
SA
|
3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.395 | 0 | 5 |
|
2
AUS
|
3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.475 | 0 | 4 |
|
3
AFG
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -0.99 | 0 | 3 |
|
4
ENG
|
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1.159 | 0 | 0 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
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Australia's Group B fixtures
February 22: beat England by five wickets (15 balls remaining)
February 25: match abandoned v South Africa
February 28: no result v Afghanistan
March 4: Semi-final 1, Dubai (8pm AEDT)
March 5: Semi-final 2, Lahore (8pm AEDT)
March 9: Final, Lahore or Dubai (8pm AEDT)
Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly