T20 World Cup 2024 – All eyes on Ashton Agar – Mitchell Marsh on Mitchell Starc’s omission

“It’s always a tough decision. You don’t know if you’re right or wrong, but I thought Ashton bowled very well today, he used his skill, good arm balls, got buy in early and made it difficult to get through those balls. first few overs [overs] outside [of him] in the powerplay that then planned to throw that where he works with Zamps. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take those early wickets.”

Despite two strong overs by Agar, Afghanistan started their innings well, scoring 40 for 0 in the first six overs. It stood in stark contrast to Australia’s start, losing Travis Head, David Warner and Marsh himself to 33 for 3 after six overs. But Marsh insisted: “I don’t think the game was won or lost on the powerplay tonight.

McDonald said that there is no need to try to find out what would have happened if Starc had been selected against Afghanistan, and he said that the conditions in St Vincent were as expected by Australia. They had been wary of the game as a potential scare given the strength of Afghanistan’s attack and the nature of the pitch at the Arnos Vale Ground.

“When you go around the islands, the conditions change a lot, and we got what we expected,” McDonald said. “I was comfortable with this decision and now we have to focus on India: a completely different team in a completely different environment, and we have to make good decisions at the selection table.

“That’s part of the art of navigating the World Cup, to get those decisions right – and you can’t play the same game twice. You can’t put Mitchell Starc in there, or Nathan Ellis, and see what the game is. It would have looked like we went to Ash and backed him, and we’re totally reliant on anybody. we call him in that 15 to do a job and we have a job ahead of us.”