Australian pacer Sean Abbott debuted in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup in their final league stage encounter against Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune on Saturday. The 31-year-old pacer has been in the thereabouts of the national team since debuting in the ODI and T20Is in 2014.
However, he has played only 17 ODIs to go with 12 T20Is and was called up in order to give some playing time to the ones warming the bench in the opening eight matches for Australia in this tournament. Abbott made an impact straightaway, by dismissing Tanzid Hasan and rounded off his 10-over spell by conceding 61 runs and with two dismissals.
Who is Sean Abbott?
The fast bowler represents New South Wales in the domestic circuit and has even turned up for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
He has played franchise cricket in England as well, playing for the Manchester Originals in The Hundred whilst even jonning the Surrey jersey across separate stints in the last three years. For Australia, Abbott has taken 20 wickets in 17 ODIs along with 13 scalps in 12 T20Is. He is pretty handy with the bat as well, scoring 54 against India in Indore just prior to this World Cup too.
Abbott was infamously in the news for bowling the bouncer that hit Phillip Hughes in a Sheffield Shield match in November 2014, which resulted in the passing away of the southpaw a couple of days later.
However, Abbott bounced back strongly from that setback, delivering consistent performances in the domestic circuit and finally by breaking into the Australian team for this ODI World Cup. Though he might not make it to the playing XI for the semi-final, Abbott has come a long way amidst a turbulent cricketing journey in the last decade.