'We Certainly Won't Make Excuses' : Mitchell Marsh On Australia Being 0-2 Against The West Indies

Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been the top-performer amid their crushing losses in the first two T20Is against the West Indies in Gros Islet. Mitchell Marsh has scored two consecutive fifties and taken three wickets to go with it. But with the rest of the batsmen failing, the seam-bowling all-rounder’s efforts have gone overlooked. Nevertheless, without giving too many excuses, Marsh hopes for Australia to put on a better show in the remaining three games.

Mitchell Marsh top-scored with 51 and 54 in the first two T20Is; however, not many batsmen could actively contribute around him. Australia lost the first T20I from a winning position as they threw away a game by playing rash shots. The second T20I saw their frontline bowlers fail to create the required impact, notably, Mitchell Starc proving expensive with figures of 4-0-49-0. He also went wicketless in the first T20I. The total of 196 proved to be too much for the tourists, falling short by 56 runs.

When asked whether the lack of T20 cricket in recent times impacted Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh remarked that West Indies have enormous depth. Hence, the 29-year old believes that it’s all about execution and every team remains under pressure. Marsh also believes that as one of the best white-ball cricketers in the world, Mitchell Starc feels comfortable where he is at.

“I can’t speak on behalf of them. But what I do know is that the West Indies team, the back half of their innings, some of the best players in the world. So, no matter who you are, you are under pressure and it’s about execution. So, if you’re slightly off against these guys, you gonna get punished. In international cricket, that’s the challenge but Mitchell Starc is one of the best white-ball players of all time so I think he feels comfortable and confident on where he is,” Marsh told ESPN Cricinfo in a virtual press conference.

We certainly felt ready to go for this series: Mitchell Marsh

While Mitchell Marsh refused to defend Australia’s performances, he believes that coming three months without cricket can make it challenging to perform instantly. The seam-bowling all-rounder hailed the West Indies for playing some of the best cricket presently and conceded their preparations for this series kept them in good stead. While labelling the first T20I loss as a tough one, Mitchell Marsh recollected being 2-0 down in India and winning the series, while pulling level against New Zealand from the same position. Thus, he hopes for the men in yellow to bounce back.

“Yeah, we certainly won’t make excuses, but there’s no doubt that coming in without three months of cricket, it can take you a little bit of time to get going. Like I said, the West Indies have been playing lot of cricket and playing very good cricket at the moment. But we certainly felt ready to go for this series. We had great preparation, great leading, first loss yesterday was a tough one, but tonight we were outplayed and that happens in T20 cricket. So, I think we lean on is that this Australian team was 2-0 down in India and won the series, we were 2-0 down in New Zealand and got back to 2-2. So, as Australian teams, we love backs against the wall. Hopefully, we can come in put in a great performance,” he added.

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