Australia's Tim David earns maiden ODI call-up for South Africa series

Australian big-hitter Tim David has seemingly entered the ODI World Cup selection debate as he has made it into Australia's squad for their five-match series against South Africa. The series will commence after the two teams' ongoing T20 engagement comes to a close.

David scored a brilliant 64-run knock off just 28 deliveries in Australia's mammoth win over the Proteas in the first T20I at Kingsmead, Durban on August 30. He has been a regular in the team's T20I setup ever since making his debut during the tour of India in September 2022.

The all-rounder played the T20 World Cup 2022 after that. He also went on to have fruiful campaigns in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Major League Cricket (MLC) and the Hundred recently.

He has a short, but prolific List A record, which comprises of 745 runs in 14 innings at an average of 82.77 and a strike rate of 123.14.

Australian selector Tony Dodemaide said that the upcoming ODI series is an excellent opportunity for Tim David to translate his skill and form from the shortest format. He said:

"Tim is already here for the T20 series which offers an opportunity to see how his game can translate to the one-day format. He will provide an extra option for us in that power role at the back end of an innings."

Out of the 16 List A matches in David's career, 10 have come during his time representing Singapore and five have come with Surrey in England. His last 50-over game was in 2021 for Western Australia in the Marsh Cup.

All-rounder Glenn Maxwell was recently ruled out of the South Africa tour due to a wrist injury and Cricket Australia opted to rope in Matthew Wade as replacement. Australia are currently battling other injury cases as well in the form of Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc.

Maxwell, Smith and Starc are expected to return in time for the three-match ODI series in India. If David makes an impression in South Africa, he could be in consideration for the ODI World Cup as well, despite missing out on the initial provisional squad.

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Australia updated squad for ODI series against South Africa following Tim David's addition

Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Tanveer Sangha, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

The ODI series between Australia and South Africa will begin from September 7 onwards. As mentioned above, Marsh will lead the ODI squad as well due to Pat Cummins' injury.

Will Tim David find a place in Australia's full strength ODI playing XI? Let us know what you think.