New Delhi, Sep 14 — Australia stand-in ODI captain Mitchell Marsh believes that the upcoming African tour will provide defending champions Australia with ideal opportunities to learn the conditions ahead of the 2027 World Cup in southern Africa.
Australia are in Zimbabwe for a three-match ODI series and will travel to South Africa for three ODIs and three Tests in what is an action-packed schedule.
Speaking ahead of the ODI series, Marsh stressed the importance of playing in these conditions for players who have not been here before. "I think it presents a great opportunity," he told Fox Sports
"I’m not sure how many, certainly the younger guys, have actually played much cricket in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and I think one of the good things is that it’s quite similar to the conditions that we face in Australia.
"Albeit it can be a little bit more hostile over there. Certainly, South Africa love playing against Australia, and we love playing against them. So it always provides a great challenge," he added.
Australia have had mixed results in the ODIs since winning the ODI World Cup 2023, but they have not fielded what seems to be their best teams since that November 2023 triumph. They have lost away series in Pakistan and Bangladesh in their previous two outings but beat India 2-1 at home late last year.
Marsh reasoned that the tough conditions in Pakistan and Bangladesh were behind the performances, as he himself was not part of the tours with inexperienced sides fielded.
"Oh look, I think a lot of times it’s conditions based," he said.
"You look at the Pakistan (and) Bangladesh series; they’re really tough conditions for what was a really young, inexperienced team at times, and they’re only going to be better for that. And those places are really hard to win with your best team available, so I just saw that as an area for growth in our group, and guys getting experience in that.
"We know that in the conditions that we’re going to face in Zimbabwe and South Africa, we play really good cricket and we sort of understand the brand that we play.
"World Cups are a lot about timing and a bit of luck, as we saw in 2023. But looking forward to what’s going to be a huge build-up to that, as I said, there’s so much cricket to be played before then, but the ODI World Cup feels like the pinnacle of the white ball game and certainly we are looking forward to it."
Australia have a gruelling Test schedule ahead, and their players, especially the big three fast bowlers - Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc- are picking and choosing. Marsh spoke on the busy schedule.
"We haven’t played a whole heap of one-day cricket over the last sort of 12 to 18 months," Marsh said.
"And the (next year), there will be quite a few of our Test guys that will be, I would like to say, unavailable for ODIs with an eye towards what seems like 100 Tests in 12 months for the boys.
"But I think what that provides us is an opportunity to create as much depth as we possibly can, and when we get to the 2027 World Cup, we’ll have hopefully a really big sport to choose from, and it’s great to get some young guys in around our group."