Ricky Ponting turns cold on struggling Australian cricket star Jake Fraser-McGurk

Australian cricket icon Ricky Ponting has had a sudden about-face on young star Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Fraser-McGurk has been underwhelming at international level and fans and commentators didn’t hold back following his ODI flop in Sri Lanka.

In that series, the 22-year-old was dismissed for just two and nine runs in his respective innings, and now, from his seven ODI appearances, he’s made just 98 runs.

Watching him bat in the IPL, Ponting had been championing the swashbuckling cricketer, and even suggested he could be David Warner’s replacement at the top of the Australian order.

But ahead of Australia’s first Champions Trophy match against England on Saturday, Ponting has suggested Fraser-McGurk could be dropped.

“He’s making it harder and harder (for selectors to pick him),” Ponting said on The ICC Review.

“He’s not had the greatest of summers. I mean, there’s just so much talent there.

“There’s so much ability and skill and talent that we haven’t sort of seen consistently enough just yet.

“And that’s one of the big calls (the Australian selectors) are going to have to make now as well.”

Ponting said, at his best, Fraser-McGurk was the sort of player that could win a tournament for you.

“That’s what the Australians, I think, would be saying,” Ponting said.

“The coaches would be saying that to him.

“We’ll see which way they decide to go at the start of the tournament.”

Australia will enter the Champions Trophy with their most depleted bowling attack for a global ICC event since World Series Cricket ravaged their side in the late 1970s.

That is the sobering reality facing Steve Smith’s men in Pakistan over the next fortnight, as the stand-in captain attempts to win one of the few trophies not currently in Australia’s cabinet.

South Africa and Afghanistan are also in their four-team group, where it is entirely possible a side could be knocked out with a 2-1 record.

The Champions Trophy was the one event to long elude Australia, before Ponting kicked off a diplomatic issue in being awarded the trophy from a BCCI boss in 2006.

They won the tournament again the following year, while England’s rain and the residue of the pay dispute ruined Australia’s last tournament in 2017.

But this year’s edition is also not the tournament Australia’s selectors have spent the past year planning for.

Almost none of the first-choice quicks will send down a ball, with Pat Cummins (ankle), Josh Hazlewood (calf) and Mitchell Starc (personal reasons) all out.

Pace-bowling allrounders Mitch Marsh and Marcus Stoinis also won’t make the trip with the latter retiring earlier this month, while Cameron Green is still injured.

In their place Australia have Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Spencer Johnson, Nathan Ellis and Aaron Hardie, with the five quicks having played 119 white-ball internationals between them.

That tally is the least of any Australian fast-bowling attack for an ICC event since the 1979 World Cup, when the side was torn apart by high-profile absences due to World Series Cricket.

“It will be certainly challenging, they’re undermanned, particularly with Starc,” Adam Gilchrist, who was part of Australia’s first Champions Trophy success, told AAP.

“It’s going to be a tough one.

“The conditions will see big scores, I’d expect, on pretty flat wickets, so it really might be about how the bowlers not necessarily dismiss opposition, but just contain and restrict boundaries.

“They’re a chance - I wouldn’t say they’re favourites, I wouldn’t say they’re out of it.”

The withdrawals also raise a bigger question of what prestige the tournament holds after an eight-year absence in the cycle.

There is no doubt June’s World Test Championship final holds more significance for Australia, as they gear up for a clash with South Africa at Lord’s.

In reality, the Champions Trophy acts to ensure the ICC have a global white-ball event in every year of a four-year cycle, alongside the biennial T20 World Cup and quadrennial ODI World Cup.

“I don’t think in any way that (selectors) are disrespecting the tournament, but it is a tournament that even cricket lovers would find it hard to relate to,” Gilchrist said.

Australia’s Champions Trophy schedule

Feb 22 vs England, Lahore

Feb 25 vs South Africa, Rawalpindi

Feb 28 vs Afghanistan, Lahore

Mar 4/5: Semi finals, Dubai/Lahore

Mar 9: Final: TBA

Australian Squad

Steve Smith (capt), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly.

Previous Winners

1998: South Africa

2000: New Zealand

2002: India and Sri Lanka

2004: West Indies

2006: Australia

2009: Australia

2013: India

2017: Pakistan

- With AAP