Who Will Open For Australia At T20 World Cup 2026? Aussie Skipper Mitchell Marsh Reveals
Ahead of the start of the series, Marsh, Australia's T20I captain, revealed on Friday that himself and swashbuckling opener Travis Head will remain the team's top two until the ICC Men's T20 World Cup next year, which will be played in India and Sri Lanka.
Fresh off a 5-0 whitewash of West Indies in the T20I series last month, Australia will welcome back a few familiar faces for the series against South Africa.
"It'll be myself and Heady [Travis Head] up the top for the foreseeable future. Obviously, we've played a lot together, (we've) got a great relationship, so (we'll) start there," Marsh told reporters in Darwin on Friday.
Notably, Marsh and Head are yet to open together in T20Is. However, they boast an outstanding record as an ODI pairing: the pair average over 50 and strike at above 12 runs per over from eight partnerships.
Earlier, Marsh's shift to No.3 ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup was a masterstroke as the right-hand batter scored 185 runs from five outings and produced a Player of the match performance in the final as Australia lifted the trophy for the first time.
However, the 33-year-old has embraced the opening role after doing so in all five matches against the West Indies last month. , albeit having a poor outing with only 81 runs coming across five games.
Notably, Australia have tried and tested multiple openers in T20Is, including Matt Short, Glenn Maxwell and Jake Fraser-McGurk since David Warner's retirement after last year's Caribbean World Cup. But the Marsh-Head combination now looks set in stone as the team builds towards the flagship Men's T20I tournament next year.
Marsh also addressed the batting order of big-hitter Tim David, whose 37-ball century in the third T20I against West Indies – the fastest by an Australian – came after an early arrival at the crease.
Although Marsh did not confirm the remainder of the XI for the opening match against South Africa, he addressed the batting order of big-hitter Tim David, whose 37-ball century in the third T20I against West Indies - the fastest by an Australian - came after an early arrival at the crease.
"We've spoken about it. We saw that in the Caribbean, that he came in earlier than he would normally," the Aussie skipper said.
"His skill set is made for that. The more balls he faces, hopefully the more games he wins us," he added.
Australia T20I Squad vs South Africa: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Owen, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa
Schedule For Australia vs South Africa T20Is
August 10: First T20I, Marrara Stadium, Darwin
August 12: Second T20I, Marrara Stadium, Darwin
August 16: Third T20I, Cazalys Stadium, Cairns
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