Mitchell Marsh locks Australia's top-order plans for T20I series against South Africa

Two days before the start of the three-match T20I series at home against South Africa, Australia’s captain, Mitchell Marsh, has revealed that the attacking opening batter of the side and the ICC No. 2 ranked T20I batter, Tarvis Head, will remain at the top order plans for them during the upcoming Men’s ICC T20 World Cup next year in India and Sri Lanka.

After an exciting 5-0 whitewash against the West Indies last month, the 2021 champions will welcome a few familiar faces against the Proteas as the opening clash begins on August 10. Marsh and Head, who have an outstanding ODI record as openers for Australia, have yet to perform at the opening position in T20Is.

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“It'll be myself and Heady (Travis Head) up the top for the foreseeable future. We've played a lot together, (we've) got a great relationship, so (we'll) start there.” Expressed Marsh, who sits at number three ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup, with the right-handed batter smashing 185 runs in five innings.

Mitchell Marsh locks Australia’s opening pair before home T20I series against South Africa

Since the retirement of the former opening batter, David Warner, Australia has tried and tested various openers, including Glenn Maxwell, Jake Fraser-McGurk, and Matthew Short. But with Head’s return, they may look to lock for the sport for the competition next year. He also addressed the batting order of Tim David, who celebrated a 37-ball century during the third T20I against the Caribbean side after an early arrival at the crease.

“We've spoken about it. We saw that in the Caribbean, he came in earlier than he would normally. His skill set is made for that. The more balls he faces, hopefully, the more games he wins us.” Marsh added in Darwin.

The opening game of the series will take place in Marrara Stadium in Darwin, which will also host the second encounter two days later. The action, later, will move to the Cazalys Stadium in Cairns on August 16.

Australia’s T20I squad against 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