Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said family time is very important when asked about the late arrivals in the camp for the T20 World Cup 2024. A host of Australian players were involved in the knockout stages of IPL 2024 and are yet to arrive in the Caribbean.
The ICC T20 World Cup 2024 began on June 1, but Australia will play their first match on June 6 against Oman in Barbados.
Australia’s 15-member roster had only nine players available for warm-up matches. At one point, they had four substitutes on the field: head coach Andrew McDonald, batting coach Brad Hodge, fielding coach Andre Borovec, and national selector George Bailey.
Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, and Marcus Stoinis were the ones who were to join the camp late. Except for Stoinis, all the others were involved in the IPL playoffs.
Value of seeing their families is very important: Mitchell Marsh
Marsh was asked his opinion on the players having joined the camp late. Australia play their first game against Oman in Bridgetown on June 5.
“For me, it’s really easy. We really value a bit of family time. The guys have obviously been at the IPL, which I think is great preparation for a World Cup. And then, yeah, just the value of seeing their families and getting them in their own bed for one or two nights is really important. As a whole, we’ve all bought into that and it’s really easy to do.
We have still got [Mitchell] Starc and Maxi [Glenn Maxwell] to arrive this morning, or at lunchtime. But after that we are all here. I think for the guys to get a couple of days at home is really important for us as a group and for them personally. Obviously, it takes a few days to get here from Australia so that adds a few challenges but they’ll be ready to go come the 5th,” Marsh said to ESPNCricinfo.
This is the largest T20 World Cup in history, with 20 teams competing. And, unlike previous editions, there is no qualifying round before the event begins.
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