Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins has been rested for the South African white ball leg to manage his workload as well as he has a minor injury. Under the leadership of Pat Cummins, the mighty Aussies got back the Urn and squared the Test series against England by 2-2 which was quite a good attainment.
Aussies wouldn’t have asked for a better time to test their bench strength in both T20I & ODI formats. It would be interesting to see how the likes of Cameron Green and skipper Mitchell Marsh fare as there is cutthroat competition for the spots in the Australian cricket team.
We will play this World Cup and then assess it after that- Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins was having an interaction with Fox Sports and stated that he is not looking too far ahead and is focusing on ODI WC 2023 first. Pat Cummins pointed out that the captaincy in the ODI format has been shared and said that he won’t be surprised if someone leads the side if Mitchell Marsh misses a contest or two.
“I haven‘t thought about it too much to be honest. We’ll play this World Cup and then assess it after that. The captaincy for the ODIs has been kind of shared around a little bit. Smithy‘s done a couple, Joshy Hazlewood’s done one, Mitchy’s there, Alex Carey’s there as well, so I think we’ll get over there, have a look at that,” said Pat Cummins.
“The good thing is we’ve got a few options. (Marsh) is probably the most obvious one if he’s doing the T20s as well. I wouldn’t be surprised with the number of ODIs before the World Cup whether some guys might miss a game as well. If Mitchy misses one, someone else might step up,” he added.
Great chance for South Africa
Since the Aussies are without their star players, the Proteas would fancy themselves to create some panic in the opposition team. Skipper Aiden Markram would be keen to keep the winning run as the side had won the T20I series against West Indies and had dictated the terms.
The destructive left-handed batter Matthew Wade would be keen to prove a point that he is not finished yet. The batter can be seen playing in franchise leagues and whacking the bowlers all around the park. It would be interesting to see what position he bats in as the side already has a lot of pinch hitters in the form of Mitchell Marsh & Marcus Stoinis.