World Cup 2023: Australia will address late collapse against Pakistan in Netherlands game, says Marsh

Australia will look to avoid a repeat of their late batting collapse against Pakistan when they face Netherlands in their next ICC World Cup fixture, all-rounder Mitchell Marsh said on Tuesday.

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Marsh (121) and opening partner David Warner (163) slammed centuries and shared a mammoth 259-run opening stand against Pakistan in Chennai, and Australia would have been eyeing a score well in excess of 400 at one point.

Australia, however, lost six wickets for just 42 runs in their last eight overs, starting with Warner’s dismissal off Haris Rauf’s bowling, as the Pakistan bowlers put up an admirable fightback in the business end of the innings.

“I think individually everyone would have addressed that. To be honest I thought Pakistan bowled really well and gave us a bit of a blueprint on how to go about it certainly towards the back end of the innings,” Marsh said during the pre-match press conference.

“They’re a very good outfit and we were able to get on top of them in the first half of the innings, but they came back strongly, and you expect that from teams like Pakistan.

“So, we’ll address it, and hopefully moving forward, we can have a great last 10 overs and apply some pressure to other teams,” he said ahead of Australia’s match against the Dutch in Delhi on Wednesday.

Batting at number 3

Travis Head, who had injured his left hand during a World Cup warm-up match in South Africa, is firming up for a return after hitting the nets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium ahead of the Netherlands clash.

Asked if Head will play on Wednesday, Marsh said: “Yeah, I think that decision will be made this afternoon/tonight. He looked good, a bit of range hitting last night. He says the hand feels good. So, I’m sure if he’s fit, he’ll be available for selection in the team.

“I’m not sure who he’ll replace at this stage, but I presume that if he’s fit and he gets through today that he’ll play, but that decision will be made tonight.”

Marsh also said he has no issues slipping back to No 3 in case Head regains his opening slot.

“I’m very happy to go back down to three. I’ve obviously batted there a lot over the last couple of years, so I feel really comfortable at three. And if and when Heady comes back in, I think that’s the best position for me to play for this team,” he said.

It has been a World Cup of upsets with Afghanistan stunning defending champions England and Pakistan, while the Netherlands shocking South Africa the other day.

“Yeah, teams have got better. I think that’s great for world cricket, certainly in tournaments like this that can sometimes be pretty long. And you see a lot of games that are not exactly close or competitive,” he said.

“But we’ve said it multiple times now in this tournament this year, there’s absolutely no easy games. And you go into every game having done all the appropriate homework and hopefully you can come out with a win.

“So, tomorrow is no different for us. We respect the Netherlands; they’re playing some good cricket and that will be a tough challenge.”

Talking about his evolution as a cricketer, Marsh said: “I’ve still worked hard for a long period of time to hopefully keep improving. And there’s no doubt that I’ve had probably more opportunities at the top of the order and more time to bat in the white-ball format.

“Not a whole lot’s changed, I’ve just probably not given up on the fact that I was striving for something and kept working hard through periods of time that were tougher than others.

“In the last couple of years, I feel I’ve been as consistent as I could have been, which was something I was always striving for. I guess all the best players in the world that you look up to, and certainly in our team, they’re so consistent. And that’s what I was.”

It has been a long season for Australia but Marsh said the experience of the players have helped them to be in great frame of mind despite the initial reversals.

“India probably play the most cricket out of anyone. And I guess from our point of view and from my point of view, it’s leaning on experience of the past,” he said.

“We’ve got a team full of a lot of experience at the moment, guys who’ve played 12 months of the year for the last probably six or seven years. So, we’re not in unfamiliar territory, whilst we had a slow start and we were put under pressure at times, the vibe in the team is great.

“We’ve played really good cricket in the last two games and hopefully that’s the case tomorrow.”

With inputs from PTI