Captain Mitchell Marsh has confirmed he will open the batting alongside Travis Head “for the foreseeable future” as Australia settle on a key partnership ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup.

Marsh’s move to No. 3 before the 2021 T20 World Cup proved pivotal, with the all-rounder producing a player-of-the-match performance in the final to help Australia secure their maiden title.

Now leading the T20I side, the 33-year-old said he will remain at the top of the order after opening in all five matches against the West Indies last month, having done so only once before the Caribbean tour.

“It’ll be myself and Heady up the top for the foreseeable future,” Marsh told reporters on Friday, ahead of the three-match T20I series against South Africa. “Obviously we’ve played a lot together, got a great relationship, so we’ll start there.

“As a group leading into the World Cup, the messaging has been about requiring guys to be flexible,” he added.

While Marsh and Head have yet to open together in T20Is, they have enjoyed success as an ODI pairing, scoring 282 runs in five innings at an average of 70.50.

Since David Warner’s retirement after last year’s T20 World Cup, Australia have experimented with several opening options, including Matthew Short, Glenn Maxwell and Jake Fraser-McGurk.

The T20 World Cup will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka next February.

Marsh also confirmed he will not be bowling for now as he manages the back issues that have troubled him earlier this year. “For me, the bowling is currently offline, but it is certainly not offline forever,” he said.

“At this stage it will be series by series, and we have plenty of options. We have 15 games to the World Cup, so we will keep working on the style we want to play and make sure our guys are enjoying every bit of it.”