Australia Playing 11 vs South Africa- 1st ODI, South Africa Tour of Australia 2025
Published - 18 Aug 2025, 08:25 AM | Updated - 18 Aug 2025, 08:37 AM
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Australia will be up against South Africa in the first of the three-match ODI series. This article provides details about Australia's Playing 11 vs South Africa for the first match of the series.
Australia Playing 11 vs South Africa- 1st ODI, South Africa Tour of Australia 2025:
Openers: Mitchell Marsh (c), Travis Head
The home team, Australia, would like to make a strong start to the three-match ODI series against South Africa.
The Aussies would be without the services of their first-choice pacer and ODI captain Pat Cummins, along with Mitchell Starc, and will be led by T20I captain Mitchell Marsh.
Mitchell Marsh found his form with a fifty in the final game of the recently concluded T20I series against the same opposition and would want to build on that by leading from the front in the first ODI.
Marsh would want good support from Travis Head at the top of the order, who is one of the experienced batters in an otherwise inexperienced squad with the retirement of Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell from ODI cricket.
The pair will look to set a solid platform for the incoming batter, something that they failed to do in the T20Is.
Other than Marsh and Head, the team management would also bank on the likes of Cameron Green, Marnus Labuschagne, and Josh Inglis to come good in the upcoming match.
A couple of retirements and Mitchell Owen getting ruled out of the series have somewhat put Australia in a peculiar situation, which has resulted in the selectors picking up promising but inexperienced players for this series.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Cameron Green, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Matthew Short
The Australian middle order will depend heavily on Marnus Labuschagne, who is one of the batters with some sort of notable experience in a batting lineup that has Cameron Green potentially batting at number three.
Another batter who will have to put his hand up and take responsibility for guiding the team against a relatively strong South African bowling lineup is Alex Carey.
Carey will be assisted by Josh Inglis and Matthew Short, who will fulfill the role that Glenn Maxwell used to perform, i.e., batting at number six or seven and chipping in with a few overs if needed.
The major concern for the Mitchell Marsh-led side faced in the three T20Is was the lack of batting depth, which was taken care of by the likes of Tim David and Glenn Maxwell, but they might face a similar problem in the ODI series.
The defending ODI World Cup champions would hope for the batters to do the job by guiding the team to an above-par total while batting first or help the team chase whatever total is set by the opposition.
Bowlers: Nathan Ellis, Ben Dwarshuis, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The Aussies have named an inexperienced bowling lineup, with Nathan Ellis and Ben Dwarshuis expected to make up the team's fast bowling department.
Ellis and Dwarshuis will have to provide support to senior bowler Josh Hazlewood, who, in all likelihood, will take the new ball.
Australia might go into the match with four specialist bowlers, with Cameron Green being the fifth bowling option, given that he bowls.
The team's spin bowling will be handled by experienced spinner Adam Zampa, with Matthew Short bowling a few overs along with Marnus Labuschagne.
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Australia National Cricket Team South Africa National Cricket Team Australia vs South Africa South Africa Vs Australia Mitchell Marsh Temba Bavuma
