'Not the immediate plan' - David parks ODI thoughts ahead of big T20I year

The retirement of Glenn Maxwell and a rebuild of Australia's ODI team ahead of the World Cup in 2027 has left the possibility open for Tim David to be considered, but he says he has no immediate plans to play any List A cricket to push his case for an ODI recall.

David, 29, is globally renowned as a T20 finisher and has been a mainstay of Australia's T20I team since 2022. Australia's selectors believe that he could translate those skills to ODI cricket and picked him for four ODIs in South Africa in 2023 ahead of the World Cup in India, when Maxwell was out injured.

He was selected then having not played a single List A 50-over game since 2021, which was the year he made twin centuries for Surrey in the Royal London Cup in England.

David has recommitted to Hobart Hurricanes for a further two seasons in the BBL but does not hold a domestic contract in Australia. He played one game in Australia's domestic One-Day Cup in November 2021 for Tasmania but has not held a domestic contract since being listed as a rookie with Western Australia in 2017-18 prior to representing Singapore. He has not played a 50-over List A game anywhere since his last ODI in 2023.

The retirements of Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis from ODI cricket does create a need for Australia to develop some finishing power in a team that is set to be revamped over the next two years after also losing Steven Smith to retirement.

David said he has been talking to his personal mentors about the next phase of his career and does not seem to have ruled anything out, but has no immediate plans for ODI selection.

"Definitely having conversations in the background with my coaches, and people that I want to talk to about my game at the moment," David said on Tuesday. "I'm not too sure, to be honest. It's not the immediate plan. We've got such a busy year, to be honest, leading up to this T20 World Cup. The winter actually looks quite different for me this year. Previously, I would have been away for four or five months in a row over the winter playing competitions. And now we've got so many T20 series that there's not much time to think about much else. So we'll see how that develops. But, at the moment, no plans."

He is currently rehabbing a hamstring injury in Perth and preparing for Australia's upcoming T20I tour of the Caribbean, which starts on July 20 in Jamaica. David has had a rare month at home after injuring his hamstring in the IPL, where he was a significant contributor to Royal Challengers Bengaluru's maiden title despite missing the playoffs with injury.

David was initially going to make his playing return in the Global Super League for Hurricanes, which starts on Thursday, but his rehab has taken slightly longer than expected.

"Initially, that was the plan, especially once the Hurricanes had a team in the GSL," David said. "Unfortunately, the injury and just the nature of it [meant it] was going to be a pretty tight time schedule. And I've probably got a couple of things that I need to tick off with the CA guys when I get over to Jamaica just before they're fully comfortable, but I'm feeling confident. And unfortunately, just the timeframe of what those recoveries look like, it was tough for me to get up [for the GSL]."

The series against West Indies kicks off a run of eight straight T20Is for Australia. After the five-match series in the Caribbean they return home to face South Africa in Darwin and Cairns in a three-match series ahead of three ODIs against South Africa. Australia will also play three T20Is in New Zealand in early October before five home T20Is against India in late October-early November. In between times, David won't play in the Hundred because of the overlap with the South Africa series, but is set to go back to the Caribbean for the CPL, where he is a part of St Lucia Kings.

The squads for the South Africa series are yet to be announced. But David has been joined in the Caribbean by fellow BBL title-winning Hurricane in Mitchell Owen, who looks set to make his T20I debut for Australia after his heroics in the BBL and some red-hot form in Major League Cricket for Washington Freedom.

"Excited to see him go," David said. "He's been playing very well over there in the US. We've obviously seen what he did last year for the Hurricanes, and that's an exciting period for him. He's playing confident cricket. And as a teammate and someone who's seen him growing, we want to keep encouraging that. So exciting time for him."

David will link up with Owen again at Hurricanes after re-signing for the next two years. There was some speculation during the BBL finals and beyond that David may head elsewhere after not being part of Hurricanes' ten mandatory pre-signed players ahead of the BBL free-agency period earlier this year. But David said he was never going anywhere despite a lengthy delay in confirming he had re-signed.

"The biggest reason for the delay is the new ten-player rule," David said. "So that obviously just added a little bit of complexity to getting that done with our ten spots fully filled.

"There wasn't any uncertainty [for me]. There was a little bit of uncertainty in the fact that there were media articles saying that I was leaving and I was copping from the hill a little bit. That's just the nature of how it is. You've got to keep it to yourself. But there was always good communication throughout that period with people making decisions at Cricket Tasmania and the Hurricanes. So a little bit frustrating that that was kind of the narrative around the period of finals when it wasn't really a starter for me."