Australia captain Mitchell Marsh has backed his inexperienced bowling line-up to strengthen during the T20 World Cup 2026 in the absence of star trio Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Starc retired from the format last year, Cummins and Hazlewood were ruled out of the tournament as they failed to shake off their injuries. Cummins chose to retain for the tests while Hazlewood was deemed not to have reached match fitness even as the Super 8 phase began.
It will be the first time the Australians head to the World Cup without the famous Big Three, meaning the pace attack will be led by Nathan Ellis and supported by Ben Dwarshius and Xavier Bartlett. Ahead of the tournament against Ireland, Marsh said he had confidence in the group as they had played Australia regularly in this format over the past year.
“Yeah, look, guys like Paddy have played a lot for us over the last couple of years because of his hectic schedule, and over the last 12 months guys like Benny Dwarshuis and Xavier Bartlett have played almost all of our games. So we’ve got a lot of confidence that they’ve been able to play a role for us and stand out in some games. And we’ve built confidence in the group we’ve built for the last time.” 12 months,” Marsh said.
The Aussie skipper said they have been able to give game time to their core group over the past 12 months and it will come in handy during the T20 World Cup.
“We’ve made a squad of about 18 to 20 people who have played in the last 12 months and we’ve got game time for all of them. They’ve all faced different situations in matches and while some of them haven’t played much for Australia, they’ve played a lot of cricket and we’ve got a lot of confidence that they’ll do the job for us,” Marsh said.
SPIN AND WIN AUSTRALIA?
Australia will play all their group stage matches in Colombo, where teams use rotation to win. The recent Sri Lanka vs Ireland game saw the spinners bowl 25 in 40 overs and Marsh admitted that this is something they will be looking to implement as well.
“I didn’t think we were going to rotate much, but we certainly know the conditions we’re going to face. And I think most teams are going to have similar ideas about how they’re going to approach it. So we’re ready for it and we’re ready to go,” Marsh said.
Australia will face Ireland in their first game on February 11.
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Published on:
February 10, 2026
