T20 World Cup 2024: Skipper Mitchell Marsh is Ready to Bowl, Confirms AUS Head Coach Andrew McDonald

North Sound [Antigua and Barbuda]: Ahead of their game against Namibia in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Australia head coach Andrew McDonald said that the management is very hopeful that the Men in Yellow skipper Mitchell Marsh will bowl in the upcoming matches of the mega event.

In their second fixture, Australia will lock horns against Namibia at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua on Wednesday.

The former Australian cricketer asserted that they are very hopeful of Marsh bowling in the upcoming matches in the tournament.

“Very hopeful that he will be back ready to bowl in matches. I’d say the likelihood of that against Namibia, is very slim, potentially increasing into Scotland and then I think you should have a clear run at the Super 8s and be able to bowl there. The assumption there is that we qualify and as I said, Namibia first thing and then we can start to work out what it looks like for the Super 8s and beyond,” McDonald said in the pre-match press conference.

The all-rounder further spoke about net run-rate. He stated that no team will carry their net run rate in the Super 8s so it’s interesting as every team starts from zero again.

“I don’t think there’s any other way of really doing it. It creates interest. The only thing is that you don’t carry your net run rate through to the Super 8s, which is a little bit interesting. The whole tournament starts again. So, I would have liked to have seen the benefit of the early rounds and what you were able to do in the early rounds and even right down to the seats. So clearly, we’re seeded number two. We can’t change that seeding so it doesn’t change what happens in the Super 8s for us in terms of seedings. But we’ll work through it after Namibia. We’ve got Namibia in front of us and that’s our focus, not England,” the 43-year-old asserted.

McDonald said that the way the team played against England was the style of play that management wanted from the side.

“I think that’s a pretty obvious statement, Benny. No, it is. We probably started slow in our last two World Cups. The 50 over one was well documented and we went zip in two. And then New Zealand gave us a bit of a touch-up at the SCG. So, it’s nice to start fast. Oman was niggly in those first-hand overs, the surface settling into a World Cup. But the way the boys played against England, that’s the style that we want to play. The guys are committed to that and if we fail playing that way, we’re comfortable with that. But really good to have that solid performance early on in the tournament. It gives us a lot of confidence. And then there will be moving parts as we go along. You rarely get everyone going through unscathed in terms of fitness and that type of thing. So, there’ll be problems that come up but it’s nice to have it in our own hands definitely,” the coach stated.

In the end, McDonald spoke about Glenn Maxwell’s innings against the defending champions. He said that Maxwell’s innings was significant as it allowed the rest of the batters to play as they wanted to.

“Sometime in the middle, it was a difficult surface outside the power play, the challenge with spin. I think it ended up being 28 off 25 balls. But it was a significant innings in allowing the rest of the batting line-up to get where we wanted them to get to. So, albeit it wasn’t the dynamic innings that we’re used to with Glenn Maxwell, it was a different type of innings. But geez, it was important to allow Marcus Stoinis to come in where he did, allow Tim David and Matthew Wade, and then you’re able to get to those 200-plus scores. Albeit he wasn’t at what he’d see as his best, I think it’s a step closer. He’s come off a poor IPL time in the middle and bowled a good first over. We took a risk in his second over, because of the way the bowling was unfolding and the distribution of that, he was exposed there and Mo took him down. But yeah, he’s important just to the team in general and his fielding was outstanding again,” McDonald concluded.

Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Travelling Reserves: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matt Short.