WESTERN Australian allrounder gets first crack at leading in short-format as selectors name 14-man group containing three uncapped BBL stars
Mitch Marsh will captain Australia’s first T20 internationals since Aaron Finch’s retirement, leading a squad with a strong Big Bash flavour on the tour of South Africa.

Western Australia’s rising star allrounder Aaron Hardie, reigning KFC BBL player of the tournament Matt Short and breakout left-arm firebrand Spencer Johnson are all in line for an international debut during the three-match T20 series.

Five one-day internationals that serve as World Cup preparation follow – with a provisional 18-man squad for that tournament also named – but the presence of a new generation of stars in the T20 side add an element of intrigue to that leg of the tour.

Just five incumbents – Marsh, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa – from Australia’s most recent T20 XI, played last November, included in the 14-player squad.
Marsh has been named as skipper for the South Africa series only, with Cricket Australia yet to commit to a full-time replacement for Finch, who played his final T20 International last October.
The 31-year-old allrounder boasts captaincy experience with Perth Scorchers and Western Australia, though in recent times those duties have fallen to Ashton Turner, who was backed in some corners as a possible candidate for the position.

“Mitch has long been a senior player within the white-ball structure, with this an opportunity for him to add to his leadership skills at international level,” said selection chair George Bailey. “We look forward to him taking that step in South Africa.”

Marsh’s selection comes off the back of a career revival in the T20 format, which coincided with his elevation to No.3 in the batting order in 2021. After being Australia’s best performed batter on tours of West Indies and Bangladesh, he retained the key role for that year’s World Cup and again delivered when it mattered, earning player-of-the-match honours in the final with a game-winning 77no from 50 balls.

The two opening spots meanwhile, are up for grabs, though Smith’s stunning late-season BBL|12 cameo in that role with the Sydney Sixers has him well positioned to fill one of those places amid a glut of top-order talent.

Short and Travis Head – who opened for the T20 side in Pakistan last year with Warner out injured – will also vie for top-order spots, as will Josh Inglis who is the sole gloveman in the squad, signalling that Australia has likely moved on from Matthew Wade.

But whether Inglis, who will not have played an official match in more than five months when the T20 series gets underway, will be asked to reinvent himself as a late-innings finisher in the manner of Wade, or instead push Marsh and other T20 regulars Maxwell, Stoinis and Tim David down a spot remains to be seen
With Australia’s leading quicks focusing on October-November’s ODI World Cup, it offers the chance for bowlers who could be key for next year’s T20 World Cup to gain some valuable experience.

Sean Abbott and Jason Behrendorff – who last played a T20 for Australia in the Caribbean in 2021 – are the most experienced bowlers in the squad with nine caps apiece to their name.
Renowned death-bowler Nathan Ellis has played five T20Is, while Johnson, who enjoyed a breakout season with the Brisbane Heat before earning an Australia A gig in March, is on a rapid upward trajectory, with Bailey noting the quick’s “pace and bounce was highly effective in his first season for the Heat”

Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Jason Behrendorff, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa. (Cricket.com.au).