Mitchell Marsh wore an easy smile on Thursday evening even though Australia’s only scheduled warm-up in Sri Lanka never got started. A heavy, persistent shower settled over the R Premadasa Stadium, the toss took place, then everyone headed back to the dressing-rooms and, eventually, straight to the team bus. Not ideal prep for a World Cup that begins in less than a week, but the captain was in no mood for panic.
“Look, Pakistan was Pakistan. We had a few guys missing and we come here with a long lead-in and a good training session yesterday,” Marsh said. “So we will be very well-prepared for our first game.”
That first game – against Ireland next Wednesday at the same ground – now arrives without Australia facing a single ball in Sri Lankan match conditions. The aborted Netherlands fixture was supposed to break the tension after a bruising 3-0 defeat in Pakistan, a series capped by a 111-run hammering in Lahore. It was also due to give Glenn Maxwell, newly arrived from Melbourne, a chance to find his range under lights. The rain wiped all that away.
Marsh still sounded upbeat, pointing to an extended training block and an extra few days in Colombo while the opening match of the tournament – Pakistan v Netherlands on Saturday – plays out elsewhere.
Josh Hazlewood remains the only lingering fitness concern. The quick is still easing back from an Achilles problem, and Marsh could offer no timeline beyond “we’ll keep listening to the medicos”. Australia may have to start without him, but the skipper says the bowling cupboard is far from bare.
“One of the great things about Pat and Josh especially, all being three-format players, is that we’ve been able to build a lot of depth within our squad and the guys that have come in have played a lot of cricket for our group,” he noted. “So we’ve got a lot of confidence in them to go out there and do the job when required and then we’ll just pick teams based on the conditions.”
Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc give the attack a familiar backbone, yet there is variety in reserve. Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann, leg-spinner Adam Zampa and a handful of spinning all-rounders are all in the mix. “Matthew Kuhnemann has been great for us, we’ve also got Adam Zampa and then we’ve got a few spinning allrounders, like most teams will. So I think we’ve got all bases covered and now it’s just about getting stuck into it,” Marsh said.
Australia’s group looks awkward on paper: co-hosts Sri Lanka, canny Ireland, improving Zimbabwe and unpredictable Oman. None can be coasted past, a point Marsh was quick to underline.
“We’ve got great respect for all the teams we’re going to be playing against,” he remarked. “Over the last 18 months, I feel we’ve been one of the most consistent sides in the world. We come to this World Cup really confident, knowing that conditions will be different at times,” he added, the sentence trailing away as he considered another downpour rumbling in from the Indian Ocean.
So, no crisis talk, no last-minute rewrites to the game plan. Australia will spend the next few days hitting their straps in the nets and simulating match scenarios under the Premadasa floodlights. As Marsh sees it, experience, depth and a bit of calm thinking should bridge the gap left by one sodden practice match.
