Mitch Marsh: England's attacking style could mean wickets for Australia

04 September 2015 09:31

Australia insist they will be more than happy if England stick to their gung-ho gameplan at Lord's - because that way the tourists believe they can take wickets.

Mitch Marsh mustered just one, that of dangerous opener Alex Hales, as Australia went 1-0 up in the Royal London Series with a 59-run victory at the Ageas Bowl.

The second match of five is at HQ on Saturday, little more than 36 hours after the first finished on the south coast.

All-rounder Marsh also shared a crucial unbroken century stand for the seventh wicket with Matthew Wade as the World Cup winners recovered from a mid-innings stumble to top 300 on Thursday.

Australia, like England, are much-changed - for different reasons - since the global tournament Down Under last winter, and Marsh senses that their success in Southampton was an important one.

They have already lost the Ashes this summer and were also defeated in a one-off NatWest Twenty20, raising the stakes for the one-day international series.

England responded to their miserable World Cup campaign by bringing in a raft of new faces and briefing them to go with their attacking instincts at all times.

Australia, Marsh claims, have more than enough talent to be proactive too, but he spots an opportunity in counter-attack if England stay on the front foot.

He said: "The term 'playing without fear' is often thrown around, but I think in this side we have enough players to go out there and back ourselves in whatever we're doing.

"We know they're going to come hard at me, 'Watto' [Shane Watson] and 'Maxi' [Glenn Maxwell].

"We said in our team meeting that it gives us an opportunity to take wickets.

"If they're going to come hard at us then so be it . the only way to stop their team scoring runs is by taking wickets. Our attack allows us to do that."

Australia return to the capital this weekend having won both Ashes Tests there this summer, with Marsh involved each time after being recalled in place of Watson at Lord's.

The urn was lost 3-2 to England, leaving the all-rounder to reflect on that disappointment but also seek some ODI redemption.

"It's obviously been a long tour and it's never easy when you don't win," said Marsh. "It was my first Ashes experience, so it's certainly been an eye-opener.

"For me, the goal has been to win this one-day series. I really want to beat England in England and I hope we can do that."

Unlike in the Ashes, Australia have struck the first blow.

"We've got ourselves off to a great start," said Marsh. "There's no doubting this was a really important game.

"I think it's good we've only got a one-day break because we can go into Lord's with a lot of confidence from this game."

Adil Rashid took the first four wickets to put Australia in transient trouble in the opening match, but Marsh is confident the leg-spinner can be tamed.

"He bowled pretty well . we obviously gave him a few wickets and that helps spinners with their confidence," he said.

"But I think we've done enough homework on him and we've got a lot of guys that play spin really well so that, we hope, we can nullify him."

Source: PA