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T20 World Cup: Australian star set for return after England axing



An Australian all-rounder looks likely to return to Justin Langer’s starting side after he was dropped for the Aussies’ horror show against England.

Mitchell Marsh will “heavily come into consideration” for Australia’s next T20 World Cup clash against Bangladesh as assistant coach Andrew McDonald and the rest of the coaching staff plot a re-jig of the squad.

The star all-rounder was left out of the starting line-up in Australia’s crushing loss to England as Ashton Agar took his place, which McDonald explained was purely for selection purposes and nothing to do with a potential injury to Marsh.

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Agar made the most of his chance, finishing with 20 runs – the second highest total of the Australian batting order – and boasting Australia’s strongest bowling figures for the match of 1/15 off nearly three overs.

While Agar certainly made his case to retain his spot in the line-up, McDonald believes Marsh’s impressive showings in a dismal series against Bangladesh deserve to be taken into account when the coaches sit down and prepare the line-up.

“He’s (Marsh) at full fitness,” McDonald said. “He was available for selection last game.

“There was no injury concerns around Mitch; he was fully capable to play his role in the last game and wasn’t selected.

“He’ll be back on the selection table and if there is a shift back to the structure of the first two games, then it’s probably likely he’ll get the nod among those seven batters.

“He’s been a good servant over the past 12 months, had some great form lines against the West Indies and Bangladesh.

“He’ll heavily come into consideration for the next game, there’s no doubt about that.”

Across Australia’s recent T20 series against Bangladesh, Marsh averaged 31.2 with the bat in five games, which included a half-century in the third match between the two.

However, he failed to fire for Australia in its World Cup opener against South Africa, mustering up just 11 runs from third spot in the batting order.

A slight shift saw the 30-year-old drop to sixth in the order for the Aussies’ win over Sri Lanka, but his services were not required, as Justin Langer’s side won by seven wickets.

With a crucial match against Bangladesh looming, Marsh’s strong numbers against them in their T20 series could prove to be key.

Bangladesh is yet to win a game in the Super 12 stage of the World Cup, but given Australia was on the wrong side of a 4-1 series scoreline when the two sides played a T20 series in August, it would be silly to count them out.

Originally published as Mitchell Marsh set for return to starting line-up after England axing




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T20 World Cup news; Australian captain Aaron Finch on must-win game against Bangladesh



It was only two months ago Australia couldn’t score a run against Bangladesh, and now they have to beat the Tigers to stay alive at the World Cup.

Australia averaged just 102 runs an innings in a miserable 4-1 series loss to Bangladesh in August, but captain Aaron Finch is adamant his team can find the runs needed in a “must-win” showdown with the Tigers at the T20 World Cup.

Mitch Marsh, who was controversially left out of Australia’s thrashing at the hands of England on Saturday night, and Matthew Wade are, however, the only two batsman from that T20 tour who have made it to the World Cup.

Finch had to leave for knee surgery, leaving Wade to skipper the side to totals of just 108, 121, 117, 105 and finally an ugly 62 in a series played on what spinner Adam Zampa called “the worst” international pitches he has played on in Dhaka.

But through three games at the World Cup the return of Australia’s best batters hasn’t produced the big scores necessary to promote confidence of progression to the finals.

Through the opening three matches Australia just reeled in South Africa’s sub-par 119 in the opening match, then peeled off 155 in just 17 overs to beat Sri Lanka in the second before struggling to just 125 against England.

That record gives Finch’s men just one total in the top 35 at the tournament so far.

Bangladesh has five, two against Sri Lanka and the West Indies, Australia’ final opponent in the pool games. Three other big scores from the Tigers came against countries including Oman in the qualifying stages.

But Finch said there was no issues about the players “gelling”, having only come together as a team 10 days before the tournament after six months apart, and was confident their best was not far off.

“Well, it wasn’t too long ago that we were No. 1 in the world, so I still think that we’re a very good team in T20 international cricket,” he said.

“Everyone has got their own opinion, so that doesn’t really matter. What matters is results. That’s fine if you think that we’re a really ordinary side, that’s OK.

“I think we’ve got a couple of days off to refresh and recharge. The boys have been training really well and deserve a couple of days off … so recharge the batteries and then a couple of really strong days of training, and then we’ll be back into it.

“There’s a lot of experience in the group. I’m not concerned about carrying baggage into a different game against a totally different opposition.”

Australian legend Shane Warne declared that Marsh “has to play” in the next match and Steve Smith should go because he has never “nailed T20”.

“Having the player that everyone can bat around has gone – those days of T20 are gone with the big bats and the small boundaries,” Warne told Fox Sports.

“You’ve got to start bashing it. You just have to bash it and go into beast mode.”

Australia has to beat both Bangladesh and the West Indies to make the semi-finals of the tournament, a fact not lost on Finch given the impact of the loss to England.

“Oh, they’re definitely must-wins. I think the net run rate took a hammering tonight. Yeah, so we’re going to have to be at our best again,” he said.

“Bangladesh are a very, very good side and so are the West Indies, a lot of firepower in their team, a lot of experience, so yeah, absolutely. It‘s must-win from now on, but we’re looking forward to it.”

Originally published as Australia has to turn around a 4-1 series loss to Bangladesh in August to keep World Cup campaign alive




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World Cup; Australia won’t shy away from big selection calls after axing Ashton Agar



Changing conditions on wickets set to take a pounding at the T20 World Cup could make for some big selection calls.

Changing conditions at the T20 World Cup could demand significant team changes and the prospect every member of Australia’s 15-man squad could get a game.

Coach Justin Langer declared it was “extremely tough” to leave out spinner Ashton Agar, Australia’s highest-ranked T20 bowler in the world, for the opening win over South Africa.

Captain Aaron Finch said it was “brutally tough”.

It was a conditions and match-ups-based decision that came after Agar had played seven straight games, plus the two warm-up matches, bowling in tandem with fellow spinner Adam Zampa.

Game one hero Marcus Stoinis said there was “an argument for everyone to be in the team“ and fully expected that as wickets became tired across the three venues being used, change could be a must.

”There’s no easy answers and we’ll probably just see what happens as the tournament goes on. I think everyone’s going to get used in this tournament,” he said.

“With these conditions, we’ve got to adapt as we go. He (Agar) has got such a good record, has been so good for us, so I wouldn’t be counting anything out.”

Langer said Australia had to be flexible in selections depending on conditions, opposition and match-ups, which could give Kane Richardson, Mitchell Swepson and Josh Inglis game time through the remaining four pool games and potentially in the finals.

Australia used Glenn Maxwell as its second spinner, ahead of Agar, and while the fast bowlers took five wickets in the opening win over South Africa, spin could be huge in the back end of the tournament.

“They’re all tough (selection) decisions. There’s no doubt about that,” Langer said.

“We’ve said from day one to the players and we did it in the last World Cup and to a degree in the last Ashes in England, we’ll just look at the conditions, we’ll look at the opposition, we’ll look at the match-ups, and we’ll make the call that we think is right for the team.

“It doesn’t always work out that way, but with all the information we’ve got we’ll work through that.”

Langer said leaving out Agar was especially tough.

“I can’t emphasise enough how tough it was on Ashton Agar, his numbers are literally outstanding,” he said. “And really tough on Kane Richardson.

“It’s nice to have those selection headaches, but it worked OK yesterday (Sunday).”

Australia plays its next game against Sri Lanka on Thursday night in Dubai.

Originally published as Australia could use every member of its T20 squad at the World Cup after opening game selection shock




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