Marsh to open alongside Head in T20 World Cup

Darwin (Australia), Aug 9 (PTI) Captain Mitchell Marsh has confirmed he will open the batting alongside Travis Head for the "foreseeable future" as Australia lock in a key combination ahead of next year's T20 World Cup.

Marsh's promotion to No. 3 ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup had proved decisive, as he starred in the final with a player-of-the-match performance to help Australia secured their maiden title.

Now leading the T20I side, the 33-year-old said he will stay at the top of the order after opening in all five matches against the West Indies last month, having done so only once before the tour of the Caribbean.

"It'll be myself and Heady up the top for the foreseeable future," Marsh told reporters on Friday, ahead of the three-match T20I series against South Africa.

"Obviously we've played a lot together, (we've) got a great relationship, so (we'll) start there.

"As a group leading into the World Cup the messaging has been about requiring guys to be flexible," he added.

While Marsh and Head are yet to open together in T20Is, they boast an outstanding record as an ODI pairing, scoring 282 runs in five innings at a superb 70.50 average.

Since David Warner's retirement post the T20 World Cup last year, Australia have tried multiple openers, including Matthew Short, Glenn Maxwell, Jake Fraser-McGurk.

India and Sri Lanka will co-host the T20 World Cup next year in February.

The all-rounder added that he will not be rolling his arm over as he continues to be cautious following his back issues that have troubled him earlier this year.

"For me, the bowling is currently offline, but it is certainly not offline forever," Marsh said.

"At this stage it will be series by series (and) we have plenty of options. We have 15 games to the World Cup, so we will keep working on the style we want to play (and) make sure our guys are enjoying every bit of it." PTI APA ATK