Marsh expects little change in Australia's aggressive approach for ODIs against South Africa

Cairns, Aug 18 (IANS) Australia’s stand-in ODI skipper Mitchell Marsh said he does not anticipate a major shift in the side’s batting approach as they move from T20Is against South Africa to ODIs against the same opposition, starting at the Cazalys Stadium on Tuesday.

After captaining Australia to 2-1 T20I series win, Marsh will again lead the ODI side in the absence of regular captain Pat Cummins, who has been rested. In the T20I series, Australia employed a strategy of attacking from the word go – which brought success but also left them dealing with collapses.

But Marsh is backing Australia to continue the high-tempo batting style in ODIs. "Getting ready to spend three and a half hours in the field will be a little bit different for a few of the boys. But as a group and as a whole, nothing really changes. (There's a) bit of a mindset change, it's obviously different format. But the same stuff rolls on," Marsh told reporters on Monday.

Marsh has captained Australia nine times in ODIs, including tours to South Africa in 2023 and England in 2024, when Cummins was unavailable. Known for preferring to chase in T20Is, Marsh hinted that the same trend could be extended by hosts’ to the ODI series.

"It's a bit of a common trend, generally speaking, in T20 cricket these days. You get to assess the conditions, but you also just know what you're chasing. I'm certainly not afraid to bat first. But we have lent towards bowling first. Playing with dew is not something that we're used to in Australia. We saw the ball get really soft in Darwin (during the third T20I). That's been a different challenge for us," he added.

The second and third ODIs will be played at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay on Friday and Sunday.

--IANS

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