Australia coach Andrew McDonald on Tuesday said that the side’s T20 skipper Mitchell Marsh is on track to be fit in time for Australia’s first game in the ICC T20 World Cup on June 5 against Oman despite being a little behind on his recovery timeline.
Marsh sustained a hamstring injury during his stint with the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and had to fly back home for rehabilitation after pulling out of the tournament.
All the Australian World Cup squad members who are not a part of the IPL have started their preparations in a training camp at the National Cricket Centre to get in the groove for the World Cup and Marsh was seen hitting the nets with the bat.
“He’s progressing well. Probably a little slower than expected. But we’ve got plenty of time now that he has been ruled out of the IPL. (Our) first game is just short of a month away now. So ample time for him to get ready,” McDonald said.
“You probably won’t see him bowl in the next couple of weeks here. It’ll probably happen the week before we leave. And then he’ll be able to ramp that up when we’re over there.
“We’ll be able to cherry-pick the moments during the tournament where he’ll be useful with the ball, (and) we’ve got some all-round depth in the squad, which gives us good coverage anyway,” he added.
Although Marsh is expected to be fit for the T20 World Cup, to be jointly hosted by the West Indies and USA, and McDonald emphasising he would not be rested, Australia have no shortage of captaincy options should the need arise.
World Cup-winning captain Pat Cummins is a part of the T20 World Cup squad as is Matthew Wade, who has captained Australia on several occasions leading into the tournament. Nathan Ellis, Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head and Adam Zampa all add to the leadership options having captained their respective Big Bash teams.
“We’ve got ample depth in the leadership space there with Matthew Wade, who’s led before when Mitch hasn’t been available. And obviously, Pat Cummins has some leadership qualities,” McDonald said.
Australia are placed in Group B of the T20 World Cup alongside arch-rivals England, Namibia, Oman and Scotland.