Australia’s Mitchell Marsh ready to bowl vs Bangladesh

Antigua,UPDATED: Jun 20, 2024 14:27 IST

Australia captain Mitchell Marsh revealed that he will be ready to bowl, if the need arises, against Bangladesh when the two sides face off in their 2024 T20 World Cup Super 8 clash on June 21. During the pre-match press conference, Marsh explained that it is important for his side to have all the options available, citing that he would be there as a bowling choice for their Super 8 clashes. Ahead of the side's Group stage game against Namibia on June 12, Australia's head coach Andrew McDonald revealed some scepticism about Marsh's bowling fitness for their T20 World Cup games after having just recovered from an injury.

Marsh suffered a hamstring injury during the first half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 with DC, which ultimately ruled out the Australia all-rounder for the rest of the tournament. The injury had only cast a shadow of doubt over the 32-year-old's fitness ahead of the T20 World Cup, only for Marsh to join the camp in time.

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"We're very hopeful that he will be back ready to bowl in matches. I'd say the likelihood of that against Namibia is very slim, potentially increasing into Scotland, and then I think you should have a clear run at the Super 8s and be able to bowl there. The assumption there is that we qualify and as I said, Namibia first thing and then we can start to work out what it looks like for the Super 8s and beyond," McDonald said ahead of the Namibia game.

However, the Australia skipper is yet to bowl a spell in any of the side's fixtures in the tournament so far, and the uncertainty only extends to their Super 8 clashes, the first of which would be coming against Bangladesh.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Marsh explained how his side has enough bowling options for their Super 8 clashes, but that he will, anyway, be ready if required to bowl.

"I'll be available to bowl, yeah. With the line-up that we've got, I don't really necessarily see a need for me to bowl, but I think it's really important in this format to have options, and we're blessed with plenty of those," Marsh said.

Australia have some highly intense catchup set up for themselves in the Super 8, where they will face an in-form Afghanistan and a powerful India after the Bangladesh clash. The calibre of these fixtures might just force Marsh's hand to put in a spell for the first time in this T20 World Cup.