LYNN’S PLAN FOR ODIs
AUSTRALIA believes Chris Lynn can win it next year’s World Cup.
And more importantly, Lynn wants to be that man.
The Brisbane Heat sixmachine has at times insinuated he’s at his happiest away from the international limelight on the Twenty20 circuit, and that since the passing of his best mate Phil Hughes, the lure of personal achievements like the baggy green have felt significantly less important.
However, Lynn has moved to set the record straight on his career ambitions and declared he is desperate to retire an Australian World Cup champion.
Australia has already launched a review into its floundering World Cup defence, having lost 11 of its past 13 matches only a year before its one-day title goes on the line in England.
The pivotal No. 3 spot has been central to Australia’s misery, and it’s understood team hierarchy secretly feels Lynn is the man for that key anchor role, hence why he was picked ahead of Glenn Maxwell this summer despite expressing his own injury concerns.
Unleashing Lynn at first drop would give Australia the opportunity to blow teams off the park with Warner, Finch and Lynn forming a ferocious top order. Then the likes of Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh can provide the muscle down the bottom of the order.
The vision of Lynn and Maxwell catapulting Australia to victory in Saturday night’s Twenty20 against New Zealand was the country’s whiteball dream coming to life.
“My No. 1 priority, and al- ways will be my No. 1 priority, is playing for Australia,” Lynn said. “Those T20 leagues are great and I’ll always put my hand up for them, but if they clash with Australian duties, I’m always going to play for Australia.
“As a kid growing up, you want to be part of the Australian changeroom. There are World Cups around the corner, I want to be a strong part of them.”