Australian coach Michael Di Venuto has hinted at the hard-hitting all-rounder Mitchell Marsh opening the batting for the Australian team against South Africa in the impending five-match ODI series. The 31-year-old was brilliant against the Proteas in the three-match T20 series, which concluded on Sunday.
Marsh was the star performer for Australia across all three formats of the game in recent years. The all-rounder has shown the ability to take on the bowlers from the word go with his hard-hitting skills and impressed everyone with his batting in the Ashes series followed by leading the side in the T20 series against South Africa in away series.
Speaking to the media, Michael Di Venuto said that the team has a lot of options going into the ODI cricket, naming the veteran David Warner alongside Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head, who has been performing consistently well for the team across formats.
“There are lots of options for us moving forward (for) opening the batting, You look at the World Cup – David Warner comes back into the mix, Mitch Marsh, Travis Head, they’ve all got good form recently, they can all put a case forward to open the batting at the World Cup.
“Tonight Trav was really good, he stood a lot stiller and reacted the ball well to the ball. He can hit all around the ground,” Michael Di Venuto said.
Earlier, this year in the ODI series against India, Mitchell Marsh was awarded the Player of the Series for scoring 194 runs in three matches with an impressive strike rate of 132 which helped Australia claim an ODI series victory against the Men in Blue in India.
Mitchell Marsh Has Got A Bit More Responsibility Out On The Field – Michael Di Venuto
Michael Di Venuto said that Marsh has been a natural leader in the team over the years and believes that his game has gone up with the responsibility in the team. He reiterated that his evolvement has helped him to transform his form into the longer format of the game.
“Mitch is a natural leader and has been for us for a long time. Now we’ve got the ‘C’ next to his name, so he’s got a bit more responsibility out on the field.
“He’s been batting like that for the last couple of years, he’s playing beautifully in short-form cricket. We saw him transfer that form into Test cricket during the Ashes, he’s full of confidence in his own game and has been for some time”. Michael di Venuto added.
Mitchell Marsh, who was to captain the side in T20Is, will take over as captain in the ODI series in the absence of their regular skipper Pat Cummins. The Australian team will look to tick a few boxes right going into the ODI World Cup in India through this series.