Cricket-Marsh to stay on as Aussie skipper for opening ODI against South Africa

Mitch Marsh will continue as Australia’s captain ​for their first One Day International ​against South Africa at ‌Kingsmead on ​Thursday despite the arrival on tour of official skipper Pat Cummins. The pace bowler was rested for last week's ‌three-match series in Zimbabwe, where Marsh steered the side to runaway wins in their first two games but then a nerve-wracking, last-gasp triumph in Sunday’s final match of ‌the series.

Marsh will continue in the role as Cummins shrugs off jet lag ‌and concentrates on preparing for the three-test series against South Africa that starts next month. "Pat's main focus is the test group, and a lot of our bowlers and him in particular are ⁠preparing for ​that test series,” ⁠Marsh explained at Wednesday’s pre-match press conference in Durban.

"I'm hopeful that he'll feature in this series ⁠at some stage, but while he's not, I'm very happy to do it.” Cummins has played ​two out of a possible 31 ODIs since leading the team to the ⁠2023 World Cup title and has not appeared for his country in the 50-over format since ⁠a ​nine-wicket loss to Pakistan in Adelaide almost two years ago.

But the 33-year-old could return for one or both of the remaining two ODIs, at the Wanderers ⁠in Johannesburg on Sunday and in Potchefstroom next week. The two ODI series in Zimbabwe ⁠and South Africa ⁠offer an ideal chance to get used to conditions for next year’s World Cup, which the two southern African countries ‌co-host with ‌Namibia.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; ​Editing by Toby Davis)