Forrest surprised by ODI selection
January 31, 2012 17:17:31 UK
Queensland Bulls batsman Peter Forrest has said that his first time call-up to the Australian international squad is a major surprise for him.
Forrest, who is originally from New South Wales, switched sides at the start of the on-going domestic Australian season for the betterment of his career.
The move worked perfectly as he is now the leading scorer in Sheffield Shield competition this season, having piled up 581 runs which also include three impressive centuries.
He was also the captain of Brisbane Heat in the inaugural KFC T20 Big Bash League tournament. He was recently selected in the Australian ODI squad in place of Callum Ferguson and Forrest says he is shocked by his maiden call-up.
"It's a massive surprise. I guess if you're scoring runs in any competition then you're a chance but I thought I'd be more of a chance playing for Australia in a Test match given my Shield form, not that I thought I'd be close there," Forrest said.
The 26-year old batsman failed to blossom at his former side NSW, which forced him to take the career-changing decision of joining the Bulls last year.
Explaining his decision to move, Forrest said:"It was a no-brainer. I think they saw me as a top-order player but when you have guys like (Phil) Hughes, (Usman) Khawaja and (David) Warner and (Simon) Katich who all bat up the top it was hard to find a spot."
"I remember the last time I got dropped and I remember my (one-day) stats - I was averaging 41 and striking at 88 (per 100 balls) and that still wasn't good enough to get in the team. It was extremely frustrating," he added.
Australia are 1.61 to defeat India in the first T20 match while the tourists are 2.30 to get the win.
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