Mitchell Marsh Backs New Unit Despite Absence Of Star Pace Trio In T20 World Cup

Australia entered the T20 World Cup 2026 without their senior pace trio, but skipper Mitchell Marsh backed the depth and preparation of the current bowling unit.

2021 T20 World Cup champions Australia have begun their 2026 campaign without their experienced fast-bowling trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. Despite the absence of the senior seamers, skipper Mitchell Marsh expressed strong confidence in the bowlers available to him.

Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc have dominated batting line-ups across all three formats for several years. However, none of them feature in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Starc retired from T20 internationals last year, while Cummins and Hazlewood were unable to recover in time for the marquee tournament.

Cummins chose to prioritise red-ball cricket and manage his workload, while Hazlewood was not considered match-fit even by the time the Super 8 stage approached. Their absence has shifted responsibility onto a new pace group.

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Nathan Ellis is expected to lead Australia’s bowling attack, with Xavier Bartlett and Ben Dwarshuis providing support. Marsh believes the trio is well prepared, having been given consistent opportunities over the past year.

“Yeah, look, guys like Paddy have played a lot for us over the last few years due to his hectic schedule and over the last 12 months guys like Benny Dwarshuis and Xavier Bartlett have played pretty much all of our games. So we’ve got great confidence that they’ve been able to do a role for us, and they’ve excelled in some games. So we’re confident with the group that we’ve got here. And we’ve built that for the last 12 months,” said Marsh in the pre-match press conference ahead of Australia’s clash against Ireland.

The opening batter also highlighted the importance of building depth and giving players enough match exposure before a major tournament.

“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. 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,” said Marsh.

Australia are set to begin their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against Ireland at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday, February 11, as they look to make a strong start despite the absence of their senior fast-bowling stars.