Aussie skipper Mitch Marsh tests positive for COVID-19 ahead of T20 series opener

Australia T20 captain Mitch Marsh may have to shout instructions to his teammates in the opening T20 against the West Indies in Hobart after testing positive for Covid on the eve of Friday’s clash.

Teammate Matthew Wade took his place during a media call on Thursday and confirmed that the Australians were ‘expecting him to play’ after he skipped training on the eve of the match in preparation for playing against a visiting side, boosted with reinforcements after he had been humiliated 3-0 in three ODIs.

Former captain and all-rounder Jason Holder and global T20 star Andre Russell are among those joining Windies for the three-match series, having narrowed their focus for 2024 to the peak of their powers for a home World Cup, with the T20 tournament. is held in the Caribbean and the US in June and July.

The matches also mark the start of Australia’s World Cup preparations, with experienced opener David Warner joining the squad after a shocking spell in the ILT20 in the United Arab Emirates, which saw the 37-year-old score just 115 runs in eight innings as captain of the team. the capitals of Dubai.

Warner, who is now Australia’s only T20 player, faced 117 balls, hitting just seven fours and three sixes, with a high score of 42 and six scores of 20 or less, including three in single figures, and the spotlight is on targeting him with players including Travis Head, Josh Inglis and Matt Short not only trying to be his opening partner at the World Cup but potentially trying to squeeze him out.

Marsh is still expected to play and keep his distance from others on the field

Glenn Maxwell has also returned to Australia, his first appearance since being admitted to hospital in Adelaide.

However, the Windies T20 outfit looms as another challenge for their ODI outfit and that is not lost on Wade, who said the three-match series was crucial for the Australians to get ‘our combinations’ together, months after the World Cup being held. in the Caribbean and the US.

“We’ve got world-class players coming back,” Wade said of the visitors.

“If you look at their line-up, there are guys who have done well in franchise cricket over a long period of time.

“They’re a completely different animal in the T20s, that’s where a lot of these guys have made a name for themselves in the last four or five years.

‘It’s exciting to get the boys together again on the way to a World Cup. It’s important that we get our combinations together.

“We’re just dealing with it like everyone else has done for the past two or three years.”

The Western Australian won the prestigious Allan Border Medal last week

Marsh will follow Cricket Australia protocols, including operating from a different dressing room and maintaining social distancing on the field.

That could make leading the team difficult, but Wade said teams had gotten used to it.

“He (Marsh) got ripped off yesterday, he’s rested enough to train today and we expect him to play,” he said.

“We’re just dealing with it like everyone else has done for the past two or three years.”

Marsh’s presence is crucial as the match is the first of six T20 clashes, with three more to come against New Zealand in preparation for the World Cup title defence.

Selectors have not signed a permanent captain replacement for Aaron Finch, who led Australia to World Cup victory in 2021, where Marsh was player of the finals.

But Marsh has been chosen as captain for the three matches against the Windies and three against the Kiwis, despite the presence of Test skipper Pat Cummins and his vice-captains Steve Smith and Travis Head.

Marsh’s place in the Australian cricket family was elevated last week when he was crowned an Allan Border Medalist for the first time after a stellar 2023 that included his Test return with a century in the Ashes and a mammoth innings of 177 against Bangladesh at the ODI World Cup in India.