Mitchell Marsh set for return to starting line-up after England axing

An Australian all-rounder looks likely to return to Justin Langer’s starting side after he was dropped for the Aussies’ horror show against England.

Mitchell Marsh appears likely to earn a recall to the starting line-up for Australia at the T20 World Cup. Picture: Randy Brooks / AFP

Mitchell Marsh will “heavily come into consideration” for Australia’s next T20 World Cup clash against Bangladesh as assistant coach Andrew McDonald and the rest of the coaching staff plot a re-jig of the squad.

The star all-rounder was left out of the starting line-up in Australia’s crushing loss to England as Ashton Agar took his place, which McDonald explained was purely for selection purposes and nothing to do with a potential injury to Marsh.

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Agar made the most of his chance, finishing with 20 runs – the second highest total of the Australian batting order – and boasting Australia’s strongest bowling figures for the match of 1/15 off nearly three overs.

While Agar certainly made his case to retain his spot in the line-up, McDonald believes Marsh’s impressive showings in a dismal series against Bangladesh deserve to be taken into account when the coaches sit down and prepare the line-up.

“He’s (Marsh) at full fitness,” McDonald said. “He was available for selection last game.

“There was no injury concerns around Mitch; he was fully capable to play his role in the last game and wasn’t selected.

“He’ll be back on the selection table and if there is a shift back to the structure of the first two games, then it’s probably likely he’ll get the nod among those seven batters.

Mitchell Marsh did not play a part in Australia’s disappointing loss to England. Picture: Aamir Qureshi / AFP

“He’s been a good servant over the past 12 months, had some great form lines against the West Indies and Bangladesh.

“He’ll heavily come into consideration for the next game, there’s no doubt about that.”

Across Australia’s recent T20 series against Bangladesh, Marsh averaged 31.2 with the bat in five games, which included a half-century in the third match between the two.

However, he failed to fire for Australia in its World Cup opener against South Africa, mustering up just 11 runs from third spot in the batting order.

A slight shift saw the 30-year-old drop to sixth in the order for the Aussies’ win over Sri Lanka, but his services were not required, as Justin Langer’s side won by seven wickets.

With a crucial match against Bangladesh looming, Marsh’s strong numbers against them in their T20 series could prove to be key.

Bangladesh is yet to win a game in the Super 12 stage of the World Cup, but given Australia was on the wrong side of a 4-1 series scoreline when the two sides played a T20 series in August, it would be silly to count them out.