Marsh in line for a recall for Bangladesh re-match

Australia are bracing for a "trial by spin" against Bangladesh as they weigh up a recall for allrounder Mitch Marsh in their crunch T20 World Cup clash.

Aaron Finch's side were given a wake-up call with bat and ball in Dubai on the weekend, suffering a comprehensive eight-wicket loss to tournament favourites England that heavily depleted their net run-rate.

They confront Bangladesh and West Indies, on Thursday and Saturday night (AEDT) respectively, in their final two pool games and they must win both to have any chance of reaching the semi-finals.

It means Australia's path to the semi-finals is clouded by their recent 4-1 series defeats to both Bangladesh and West Indies earlier this year.

Marsh, one of few players to stand up on that tour that several stars opted out of, was dropped for the clash with England to accommodate Ashton Agar's return.

Selectors are mulling whether to recall the allrounder, which would boost Australia's batting depth but leave them with just four frontline bowlers.

"If there is a shift back to the structure of the first two games then it's probably likely that he'll get the nod," senior assistant coach Andrew McDonald said.

"He's been a good servant over the last 12 months, had some great form lines against West Indies and Bangladesh.

"He'll heavily come into consideration for the next game, there's no doubt.

"On the back of such a disappointing loss (to England), you get direction. You chat, the conversations happen, the questions ... we've probably got a little bit more clarity on the back of that failure. So that's always a positive."

The return of Pat Cummins has bolstered an attack that was repeatedly put to the sword in the Caribbean, while Finch, David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis were all sorely missed in Bangladesh.

The pitch in Dubai on Thursday will also be notably different to that in Dhaka.

"They were seriously challenging conditions," McDonald said.

"It created a few headaches for us.

"It's probably not going to be as difficult (to bat) as those conditions. Albeit ... it's going to be a similar trial by spin."

McDonald argued the squad, given two days off before returning to training on Tuesday, would relish the challenge of must-win games against familiar opposition.

"The reality is Bangladesh did have a significant series win against us on their home soil, so did West Indies," he said.

"It gives us a great gauge on whether we have moved forward.

"I'm not going to sit here and say that we have or we haven't.

"It'll be for the outside world to judge on the back of those two games. We're excited about that."

2021 Men's T20 World Cup

Australia's squad

Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams

Oct 23: Australia beat South Africa by five wickets

Oct 28: Australia beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets

Oct 30: England beat Australia by eight wickets

Nov 4 v Bangladesh in Dubai (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

Nov 6 v West Indies in Abu Dhabi (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

All matches live and exclusive on Fox Cricket, available on Kayo Sports.

Click here for the full 2021 ICC T20 World Cup schedule

Click here for the full squads for all 16 teams

Super 12 stage

Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Scotland, Namibia