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Australia’s selectors will be rotating their pace
bowlers against the West Indies due to the three ODIs in five days, but Sean
Abbott isn’t interested in hearing about taking Tuesday off in Canberra since
he understands how hard he has to work to earn a spot in the squad.
At the SCG, Abbott gave an outstanding all-around
performance that he acknowledged was emotional in front of family and friends.
He saved Australia from 167 for 7 with a career-best 69 and then added 3 for 40
with two catches for good measure.
Abbott is an invaluable member of Australia’s team and
has become accustomed to carrying beverages, much like Scott Boland did in the
Test setup. Even though he is realistic about where he stands in the pecking
order and only made the XI once at the ODI World Cup last year—in the
dead-rubber against Bangladesh when Mitchell Starc was rested—his drive remains
unabated.
“I don’t want to skip any games,” he said.
“Obviously [it’s] a tight turnaround but that’s part of playing cricket
for your country at the moment…I don’t want to give up a game. There are a few
guys resting tonight like Patty [Cummins] and Starcy, so it’s a hard team to
get into and it’s an even harder team to stay [in]. Won’t be giving up my spot
for a rest if I can help it.”
Abbott knows that Australia are in an exceptionally
strong era of pace bowling, although his batting provides an extra string to
his bow if there was ever a desire to balance the one-day side differently.
“I’m pretty realistic,” he said. “I
know how talented some of the guys are that have been playing and also the next
guys in. I use it as an opportunity to keep trying to get better and if I’m not
playing I assume it will help them to get better because I’m pushing them to
get better.
“If you aren’t getting picked because guys are
playing really well the best you can do is keep going out and performing and
keep getting better. I can cop that, if guys are playing really well, that’s
fine by me, but I’ll be doing everything I can to get their spot. At the same
time, I’m quite realistic that we have a hell of a talented pool of fast
bowlers at the moment.”