Marsh to lead Australia in T20Is against West Indies

Mitchell Marsh is firming as Australia’s likely captain for the T20 World Cup after being named to take the reins for a three-match T20I series against West Indies.

David Warner, Tim David and Marcus Stoinis have all been included and will need to return home from their franchise duties early, while Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Steven Smith have been rested with Cricket Australia stating that all three will likely be included in the squad for the T20I series in New Zealand in late February.

The selectors are yet to confirm who will be Australia’s permanent T20I captain having not made a formal decision after Aaron Finch retired following the 2022 T20 World Cup.

Australia have only played two T20I series since then with Marsh leading an inexperienced team to a 3-0 triumph in South Africa before Matthew Wade took charge of a depleted team in India after the ODI World Cup triumph.

Marsh will captain on home soil for the first time and will have a very strong squad to work with. Smith will rest from the T20I series after captaining the ODI team in the three-match series against West Indies in the week before the T20Is but has stated that he expects to be in the squad for the New Zealand T20I series.

“I want to be a part of it, as anyone would, I suppose,” Smith said on Wednesday. “I’ve had a few opportunities to open and obviously did it well in the Big Bash. It’s different to international cricket, I know, but I haven’t had a huge opportunity there. I’d certainly be interested, but we’ll wait and see.”

Bailey confirmed that Smith was being rested and would return for New Zealand.

“It’s an opportunity for him to just have a really small break,” Bailey said. “He’s likely to return for that New Zealand series in some capacity, so he’ll continue to get opportunities.”

Australia T20I squad versus West Indies: Mitchell Marsh (capt), Sean Abbott, Jason Behrendorff, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa (Excerpt from ESPNcricinfo)