Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has said that all is not lost for his side in the T20 series against West Indies after the loss in the first two T20Is. He took pride in recent history when the Australian sides bounced back strongly after facing defeats early on and said that the team has had a history of doing well when pushed against the wall.
“There are no excuses, but certainly (it's difficult to adjust) when you play international cricket after a gap of three months or so. But this Australian team was 2-0 down in India and won the series, was 2-0 down in New Zealand and made it 2-2. The Australian teams we love always won when they had backs against the wall,” Marsh said in a virtual press conference.
Australia have made a lot of changes in the XI in the absence of big players such as David Warner, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell and Marsh chose not to lie about not missing them in the Caribbean. However, he refuted that Australia have struggled because of an unstable batting lineup in the series so far.
"No, that’s not the case at all. We all know what our roles are. It’s all execution and against a good team like West Indies, we were unable to execute our plans,” Marsh added.
"I’d be lying if I say I don’t (miss Warner and Maxwell). But that’s the situation we are in and I have full confidence in this team that we will turn things around."
The absence of big players allowed the team management to try Marsh at an all-important position at number three and he has made good progress in the series.
It was his innings in both the games that kept Australia in the hunt before collapses and Marsh said that he is using his experience of batting at three with the Perth Scorchers to bat longer and lead Australia home in chases.
However, he did not make public if he wishes to bat at the number three or not and instead said that his focus is limited to providing Australia with something substantial at the top.
"I don’t want to get into headlines saying that I want to bat at No.3. It’s always great to be batting there for Australia. I have already done that for (Perth) Scorchers (in the Big Bash League) but all I wanted to do was to bat a bit longer and get us home. Currently, I am not thinking about what’s my batting position’s gonna be in two months of time. I just want to perform to the best of my abilities for the team," the all-rounder said.
Marsh has had a good run of form both with the bat and the ball in the series and Australia will bank on him to turn things around in the last three games of the series.