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On Friday against Pakistan, Mitchell Marsh and David
Warner put up a record-breaking 259 run partnership. The previous game, Marsh
scored 52 as the opener. He did, however, affirm that when Travis Head returns,
he will go down to No. 3.
Head had been sidelined with a hand injury, but it now
appears likely that he will play against the Netherlands on Wednesday after
progressing to range-hitting (six-hitting) practise on Tuesday. Marsh will now
move down one position, while Marnus Labuschagne is expected to leave the
starting XI.
“I mentioned to David Warner, maybe he can bat
three, but I got a firm no from him,” Marsh joked on the eve of the match.
“But yeah, very happy to go back down to three. I’ve obviously batted
there a lot over the last couple of years, so I feel really comfortable at
three. And if and when Heady comes back in, I think that’s the best position
for me to play for this team.”
However, Marsh’s performance at first-drop is not very
noteworthy; after 12 innings there, he has an average of 22.25. This is in
contrast to his opening-game average of 60.55, but that number was
significantly increased by his career-best performance of 121 off 108 on
Friday.
However, he has had a productive 2023, averaging 45.92
over 14 innings to establish himself as a mainstay in Australia’s ODI lineup.
Marsh said that this rise was the result of hard labour alone and not of any
technical advancements.
“Not a whole lot’s changed [with my game],”
Marsh said. “I’ve just probably not given up on the fact that I was
striving for something and kept working hard through periods of time that were
tougher than others.
“In the last couple of years, I feel as I’ve been
as consistent as I have been, which was something that I was always striving
for. I guess all the best players in the world that you look up to, and
certainly in our team, they’re so consistent. And that’s what I have
been.”