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.
“I think it presents a great opportunity,” he told Fox Sports 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.
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. “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. “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.” “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.
