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.