'Get the job done': Mitchell Marsh sets tone as Australia launch T20 World Cup bid

Australia captain Mitchell Marsh threw his weight behind his squad to “get the job done” as the defending champions begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on Wednesday, despite a challenging lead-up to the tournament.The 2021 champions arrive in Colombo after being swept 3-0 in a recent series in Pakistan and will also be without several key players due to injury. Star quicks Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are among the notable absentees, while selectors also made the bold call to leave out Steve Smith, despite his strong form and proven record against spin.

With spin expected to play a major role on the turning surface at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Marsh urged his batters to show clarity and intent in their approach.“Look, I think we certainly want to be positive in the way we go about things,” Marsh said on the eve of the match against Ireland, who are ranked 11th in the world compared to Australia’s second place.“I think in these conditions, it's just about being really clear on how you're going to go about it and playing what's in front of you.“The word adaptability has been thrown around in our team meetings so far and just adapt to whatever situation is put in front of us and get the job done.”

Marsh confirmed that fast bowler Nathan Ellis has recovered from injury and is available for selection, though explosive batter Tim David will miss the opener against Ireland.Despite fielding a relatively inexperienced pace attack that includes Xavier Bartlett and Ben Dwarshuis — the latter drafted in as a late replacement for Cummins — Marsh expressed confidence in the depth of the squad.“We've sort of built out a squad of maybe 18 to 20 people that have played over the last 12 months and we've got game time to all of them,” he said.“They've all faced different situations in matches and whilst some of them haven't played a lot for Australia, they've played a lot of cricket and we've got great confidence that they're going to be able to do the job for us.”