North Sound (Antigua and Barbuda), June 11 (IANS): Australia head coach Andrew McDonald is hopeful that captain Mitchell Marsh will be available to bowl against Scotland in their final group stage fixture of the T20 World Cup. Marsh has been recovering from his hamstring injury that restricted him as a batter for the initial stage of the tournament.

Australia have defeated Oman and defending champions England in their first two matches of the tournament. The 2021 T20 World Cup champion will take on Namibia in their first-ever T20I match at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound in Antigua on Thursday (as per IST).

"Very hopeful that he will be back ready to bowl in matches. I'd say the likelihood of that against Namibia, is very slim, potentially increasing into Scotland and then I think you should have a clear run at the Super 8s and be able to bowl there. The assumption there is that we qualify and as I said, Namibia first thing, and then we can start to work out what it looks like for the Super 8s and beyond," McDonald said in the pre-match press conference.

On facing Namibia, McDonald said they're targeting to seal a Super Eight berth. “We need a win to guarantee ourselves a way through. After that, once we’ve firmed up that qualification, then we can start to look at that potential if we feel like it’s necessary.

“We haven’t got the option of talking about that at the moment. Namibia, first and foremost. England have clearly got their own work to do in the next couple of games. It’s always difficult, you’re always dependent on other results and, yeah, it’s not a nice situation to be in but as I said that’s for them to work through, not us. We’ve got Namibia in front of us and that’s our focus, not England," he added.