Australian captain Mitchell Marsh has won the toss and elected the bowl first in the T20 series decider against South Africa at Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns.
Josh Inglis, Nathan Ellis and Aaron Hardie all return to the line-up in place of Mitchell Owen (concussion), Alex Carey and Sean Abbott.
Saturday night’s do-or-doe clash will serve as valuable preparation for next year’s T20 World Cup, recreating the cut-throat nature of a tournament knockout game.
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It has been almost three years since the Australians played a T20 series decider given the third match in England last year was washed out and Mitchell Marsh’s side have comfortably won the other series they have played since the last T20 World Cup.
Australia are looking to continue their unbeaten streak that spans across their last six T20 series as well as honour the late former Australian captain and coach Bob Simpson, who Cricket Australia announced on Saturday had passed away.
South Africa have won just two of their last nine series, but both sides will encounter unfamiliar conditions with Cairns never having hosted a T20I before.
Cazaly’s Stadium has staged two men’s Test matches and five men’s ODIs previously, however, all of which have been won by the Australians.
The most recent of which was a three-game ODI series the Australians clean swept a low-scoring series in 2022 against New Zealand in former skipper Aaron Finch’s farewell series.
Cairns also hosted a BBL game that year, and if that clash between the Brisbane Heat and the Melbourne Renegades is anything to go off, it may be a case of spin to win as Matthew Kuhnemann and West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein took three wickets apiece in that match.
Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell also shone with the ball during that ODI series against the Kiwis three years ago.
Owen Out of ODI squad due to concussion | 06:32
AUSTRALIA: Mitchell Marsh (c), Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Green, Tim David, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Hardie, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
SOUTH AFRICA: Aiden Markram (c), Ryan Rickelton (wk), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Corbin Bosch, Senuran Muthusamy, Kagiso Rabada, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi.
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