Australia’s Mitchell Marsh plays a shot during the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup one-day international (ODI) match between Australia and Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on November 11, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Mitchell Marsh has had an emotional fortnight. Having had to rush to Australia midway through the tournament after the passing of his grandfather, Ross, Marsh rejoined the squad.
But the all-rounder kept his emotions in check after scoring his second hundred of the Men’s World Cup — also Australia’s third-highest individual score in the tournament history. Asked whether this was the most emotional of his three ODI hundreds, Marsh said he was battling the conditions more than anything else.
“It’s always a great honour to score 100, but I was pretty cooked to be honest. I was just starting to cramp at that stage, so I was trying to keep my heart rate low and not exert too much energy. So, yeah, this one meant just as much as any other hundred that I have ever made,” Marsh said after the match.
Also see: Australia’s run chase
Marsh was chuffed with the manner in which Australia has turned the tables around to set up a semifinal date against South Africa after losing the first two games.
“We are really excited. You look back to the start of the World Cup and nine games seem like a long way away,” he said. “With the amount of improvement with all cricket teams around the world there has been not one easy game. So to get to the semifinals is great. We are very excited about what lies ahead and the challenge that’s ahead of us.”
Bangladesh’s skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto gets run out by Australia’s Josh Inglis during their match in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, in Pune on Saturday, November 11, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
ANI
Najmul Hossain Shanto, Bangladesh’s stand-in captain, reflected on the team’s batting unit’s poor show right through the tournament. Shanto stressed on the need to stick to a set batting order.
““To be honest, it is better if we don’t (shuffle the batting order). But sometimes you have to do (shuffle) against certain teams, according to their strengths. But the less we do it, (the better it is). There was a lot of (shuffling) in the World Cup but it was done with a positive intent. If we don’t do it at all, even better,” Shanto said.
Having batted at No. 3, Shanto also accepted the failure of the top-order as a reason for collective failure. “I don’t want to talk about individual players. We didn’t do well as a team. The top-order batters had more opportunities,” Shanto said.
“If we had big scores from the top, we could have been in better positions. We are hopeful they will get big scores in the future.”