Abu Dhabi: Ben McDermott, son of former Australian pace warhead Craig McDermott, who is a part of Australia’s T20 squad, is confident of carrying his form of Big Bash into the series against Pakistan, which begins on October 24.
Ben, who is most likely to debut in the one-off T20 International against UAE on Monday, said he is excited to be in UAE and is very much looking forward to the “challenge.”
“It feels great to be back here in UAE as it is such a cool place to tour. Really looking to playing some good cricket. It’s been reasonably long wait up to this series — so really looking forward to getting into it tomorrow against UAE,” said Ben, who joined Tasmania from Queensland in 2015 and has emerged as a destructive batsmen in the big Bash League with Hobart Hurricanes.
“I’m feeling good at the moment and, hopefully, I can transform that form into T20 cricket,” added Ben, for whom this not an unfamiliar territory as he was part of the Australia Under-19 team in the UAE Under-19 World Cup in 2014.
“We didn’t do great in that World Cup and lost out to South Africa in which (Kagiso) Rabada came good and ran through us. But yes I’m aware of the conditions here,” said Ben, who revealed that the mood in the Australia camp is still upbeat despite the 1-0 Test series loss to Pakistan.
“We had a good training session today and everyone is upbeat. Obviously, the Test boys were there here playing and the T20 boy are added into the squad. It was an effort session today and everyone is looking forward to contest tomorrow,” said Ben, who was certain that the contest against UAE will be an ideal one to measure where their team stands ahead of the T20 series against Pakistan.
“We will be playing on a similar wicket, so it will be a good preparation. I can’t wait to play UAE,” said Ben, adding that Australians are aware of UAE’s strengths and weaknesses.
“We have seen some videos of UAE but not much I would say. We will be studying a bit more about the squad tonight. I’m sure they are an exciting side.”
The match is scheduled for a 2pm start.
