Perth Scorchers captain Ashton Turner says Mitch Marsh will definitely play in the Big Bash League final on Friday but is not sure whether he will bowl.
Marsh is priced at 11/2 to win the man-of-the-match in the BBL11 final but there is a chance he will have to do it with the bat following a scare with his hamstring.
Star of the tournament
Marsh has arguably been star of the tournament following some devastating form with the bat and the Scorchers will just be delighted to have him available as they bid to knock over the Sixers.
Scans have shown no serious damage to the hamstring but the Scorchers could be reluctant to ask Marsh to run in to bowl at full speed for fear of him aggravating it.
Related Perth Scorchers news
Huge Marsh boost for Scorchers
Scorchers sweat on Marsh fitness
Much could depend on whether Perth bat or bowl first and the state of the game, but Turner says the important thing is Marsh will be in the side.
"He’s definitely going to play,” Turner told reporters on Thursday. "I’m not sure about bowling but he’s definitely going to play as a batter at least, as a bare minimum.
"We’ve seen how much of an impact he’s had. Stats show that you don’t need to run as many twos at Marvel Stadium and there’s a high percentage of boundaries hit here.
"Not that Mitch can’t run, he’s moving pretty well. I saw him chase my daughter at the park the other day so he’s moving OK."
Plenty of options
Turner is not too concerned if Marsh cannot bowl as he believes he has plenty of other options heading into the final.
"We saw with Mitch not bowling in our last final that we were fine with five bowlers and I can still bowl," Turner added.
"We haven’t finalised our team so we don’t quite know the make-up of the final XI yet so the more options, the better but we’ve also played plenty of games with five bowlers."
