Injured Marsh progress ‘a little slower than expected '

Mitch Marsh is on course to lead Australia in their ICC T20 World Cup opener against Oman on June 5 but his recovery from an injured right hamstring has been "a little slower than expected".

"He's progressing well. Probably a little slower than expected," coach Andrew McDonald told reporters today.  "But we've got plenty of time now that he has been ruled out the IPL."

"(Our) first game is just short of a month away now. So ample time for him to get ready. "You probably won't see him bowl in the next couple of weeks here. It'll probably happen the week before we leave. And then he'll be able to ramp that up when we're over there.

"We'll be able to cherry pick the moments during the tournament where he'll be useful with the ball, (and) we've got some all-round depth in the squad, which gives us good coverage anyway," he added.

Marsh left the Indian Premier League in early April after suffering the injury while playing for the Delhi Capitals but was back in the nets with a handful of his Australian teammates in Brisbane on Tuesday.

Marsh was one of those who had a hit in the nets on Tuesday morning.

The allrounder told reporters last week that he was still some way off full fitness, but the Australian coach isn't concerned about lack of match fitness for the 32-year-old, whose last competitive hit was on April 4.

Australia are expecting to play some warm-up fixtures in Trinidad and Tobago in the week leading into the tournament proper, giving the likes of Marsh the perfect opportunity to tune up for the opening match.

"No real concern about match fitness," McDonald said.  

"We've got a couple of practice games when we get to Trinidad in the support period, so he'll have plenty of match opportunities, and if not we'll be able to simulate those through practice/

"By the first game against Oman, we're confident he'll be up and running."