BBL 2018-19: Michael Vaughan wants Australia to pick Josh Philippe in the ODI team

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said a few days ago that even the return of two top players – Steve Smith and David Warner – will not solve Australia’s problems. He said besides batting and bowling, Australia’s selection and tactics were also poor and that were hurting them. Now, the former England batsman has advised Australia to pick a player for their ODI side.

The name that Vaughan has come up with is Josh Philippe, a 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman who slammed 86 not out in just 49 balls for Sydney Sixers on Wednesday to help his side beat Hobart Hurricanes by 9 wickets, chasing a challenging target of 173 in 20 overs at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Philippe hit nine fours and three sixes in his innings that made the chase look ridiculously easy. Earlier this month, he had also hit an unbeaten 15-ball 30 down the order to take his team to a six-wicket victory over the Adelaide Strikers. It was only last year that he made his debut in first-class and List ‘A’ games and has played just six and eight games, respectively. He has scored one hundred in first-class cricket and a few fifties in the List ‘A’ career so far.

Here’s Vaughan’s tweet

Josh Philippe is the player the Aussies should pick for the ODIs ……..

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 23, 2019

Australia will play a few ODIs before they head for the World Cup in England and Wales in May to defend their fifth title won at home in 2015. They will visit India for a five-ODI series besides two T20Is and the Kangaroos’ final call on the squad for the mega event will be depending on that series. Australia lost a three-match ODI series against India 1-2 recently at home despite taking an early lead.

Australia are currently ranked sixth in the ICC’s ODI list and have lost their last six bilateral ODI series to New Zealand, India (twice), England (twice) and South Africa.

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.