Former Australian cricketers George Bailey, Andrew McDonald and Brad Hodge, all part of the support staff now, might have to take the field again as the Mitch Marsh-led side struggles with player availability for the warm-up matches ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup. (More Cricket News)
Australian captain Marsh emphasised on giving players a break following a grueling IPL season and thus his team will have player shortage during the warm-up games.
Australia play Namibia on Wednesday and the West Indies on Friday in their two warm-up matches before they begin their World Cup campaign. For these games, the Aussies might have as few as eight players available for selection.
"We're going to be undermanned. But it is a practice game. The guys who need to play will play as much as they can and we'll figure it out from there," Marsh said talking to cricket.com.au.
The allrounder who is also leading the side is himself a doubtful starter as he recovers from a hamstring injury that he sustained during his IPL stint for Delhi Capitals.
Three of Australia's certain starters in the playing XI were in Chennai on Sunday engaged in the IPL 2024 final where Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad to lift their third trophy.
Travis Head, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc are all key parts of Australian T20I team. Head and Cummins had an outstanding IPL for SRH while Starc gained his form in the playoffs winning the Player Of The Match awards in the final and in Qualifier 1.
Apart from these three, the all round trio of Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis is also expected to arrive after the Namibia warm-up game. Travelling reserves Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matt Short are also expected to join late.
Even as Australia remain massively short on players, skipper Marsh backed the decision of his teammates taking rest.
"It's important to be flexible. Guys who have been at the IPL have been playing a lot of cricket. We prioritised giving them a couple of days at home to see their families, refresh, and play the long game for this tournament," Marsh said.
"We will get our 15 (all together) eventually, but really important that we give them a break, even if it's just a couple of days at home, that's really important."
