James Faulkner sets eyes on domestic T20 leagues to force his way back into Australian team

The Player of the Match of the ICC Cricket World Cup final in 2015 for Australia, James Faulkner, is no more in the scheme of things for the Men in Yellow. The allrounder until the year 2017 was one of the regular members of the playing XI in the limited-overs set up.

But, things drastically changed for Faulkner and he slowly went out of the team due to new players emerging in the squad. As with many other players, the allrounder’s case is also familiar while trying to be among the national reckoning – playing various leagues and trying to impress the selectors. He was last seen in the sixth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for Lahore Qalandars in the second leg of the tournament, which took place in Abu Dhabi.

The left-arm pacer had a good outing, picking up 13 wickets in just six games for the franchise. Indeed such a brilliant performance in one of the top leagues going ahead will definitely make the Australian selectors take notice of Faulkner.

Faulkner recently said that he will look to play various other leagues apart from PSL to be among the reckoning again. “It’s something my manager and I will sit down and look at with all the leagues going on around the world,” Faulkner told cricket.com.au in an exclusive chat on Wednesday (June 30).”

“(Joining the T20 circuit) is probably the most realistic thing for me to be doing, I know I’m not going to be playing Test cricket again, or four-day cricket either,” he added.

James Faulkner aiming to be part of the ODI setup

After setting sights on a possible return to the team in the T20 cricket, the allrounder is also aiming to be part of the ODI setup. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 is still two years away, but Faulkner is also aiming to put his hand up in the 50 over the scheme of things.

“There’s potential for one-day cricket but after having a couple of months off after the last Big Bash, then going into the PSL and playing six games in 10 days and performing reasonably as well, I got a lot of confidence out of that.”

“That’s probably the angle that I’ll go at. I’ve got to weigh up what offers are on the table and map it out.”