Marcus Stoinis makes way from Australia's playing XI for their ODI World Cup clash with the Netherlands in Delhi with Travis Head yet to make his tournament debut
Head kept on ice, Aussies make one change for Dutch
Cameron Green has been recalled as Australia rested Marcus Stoinis for their World Cup clash with the Netherlands, but have held back star opener Travis Head.
Captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bat first on a warm afternoon in Delhi. "Looks like a lovely wicket," he said at the toss. "Sun's out, feels like a good afternoon to bat."
Stoinis is sitting out Wednesday's day-night contest in Delhi due to calf soreness, opening the door for Green to play his second match of the tournament. Green also played when Stoinis was hurt for their opening match against India.
Despite his niggle, Stoinis was bowling at a reasonable intensity during the warm-ups before play, suggesting the allrounder might have played had they been playing stronger opponents than the world's 14th-ranked ODI team.
Australia XI: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
Netherlands XI: Vikram Singh, Max O'Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards (c, wk), Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren, Roelof van der Merwe
Head was given every chance to show he was right to play after missing the early part of the tournament with a fractured hand. But despite training strongly since landing in India late last week, the left-hander will be held back for at least one more match.
"Close (but) a bridge too far today," Cummins said of Head. "We gave him right up to this morning but just felt he might need another few days."
This match marks just the third time the Netherlands have played Australia in any format. The two teams last met at the 2007 World Cup.
The Aussies face a sterner test on Saturday when they take on New Zealand in Dharamsala in a day match, which could provide Head's entry into the tournament.
Marnus Labuschagne looks to be the likely player to make way. However, with both Head and Stoinis missing this match, Labuschagne and Green have the chance to make themselves indispensable.
Australia seldom drop big World Cup matches to outsiders like the Dutch, who nonetheless are bullish on their chances of producing the kind of upset they pulled over South Africa last week.
Australia seldom drop big World Cup matches to outsiders like the 14th-ranked Dutch team, who nonetheless are bullish on their chances of producing the kind of upset they pulled over South Africa last week.
"Why not? It's, you know, we've come here to reach the semi-finals. That's our goal," said paceman Logan van Beek.
"It's been pretty clear throughout the whole preparation phase. And the South African win just gave us that extra belief that you know the way they're playing at the moment on our day we can we can still beat a good team."
Mitch Marsh, who will continue his opening partnership with David Warner after their record 259-run stand in their win over Pakistan but expects to return to No.3 when Head returns, said Australia will need to be at their best to overcome the Netherlands.
"Teams have gotten better, think that's great for world cricket, certainly in tournaments like this that can sometimes be pretty long and you see a lot of games that are not exactly close or competitive," said Marsh.
"But we've said it multiple times now in this tournament this year, there's absolutely no easy games.
"And you go into every game having done all the appropriate homework and hopefully you can come out with a win. We respect the Netherlands; they're playing some good cricket and that will be a tough challenge."
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Lost to India by six wickets
October 12: Lost to South Africa by 134 runs
October 16: Beat Sri Lanka by five wickets
October 20: Defeated Pakistan by 62 runs
TODAY: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT
November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
2023 World Cup standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points