Australia captain Mitchell Marsh will be limited to batting in the team’s T20 World Cup opener against Oman, head coach Andrew McDonald said, with the all-rounder returning to action after a long break due to a hamstring problem.
Marsh was at number 3 three and was dismissed for four runs as depleted Australia lost their final warm-up against co-hosts West Indies by 35 runs in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday.
McDonald said Marsh was doing well in his recovery but was still not ready to bowl.
“It won’t be the first game,” he said.
“He played more overs again tonight, he was able to move more freely, so he’s building a bit of confidence there.”
Marsh was out 18 to open the batting in Australia’s first warm-up, a seven-wicket win over Namibia.
As in the Namibia match, Australia had only nine players available from the World Cup squad against the West Indies, and used McDonald as one of the substitute fielders.
The West Indies batters hit 257 for four, before Australia were restricted to 222 for seven.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran defeated Australian spinners Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar with a 25-ball 75, while Rovman Powell scored 52.
“Conceding 260 runs in a T20 match isn’t ideal, but we were working on some plans and working through what we needed to get out of the game,” McDonald said.
Australia, the world Test and 50-over champions, will play Oman in Barbados on June 5.
