Taunton: Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has been ruled out of their next World Cup match against Pakistan with a side strain, captain Aaron Finch said here Tuesday. He picked up the injury during the game Sunday against India at the Oval.
All-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been flown over to England as back-up, but the Australians will wait to make a call on whether he permanently replaces Stoinis in their 15-man squad.
“Marcus Stoinis has a bit of a side strain. He won’t be available for tomorrow (Wednesday),” Finch told a news conference ahead of Wednesday’s match against Pakistan here. “We’ve got Mitch Marsh flying over just as a bit of a precaution. He was meant to fly over with the Australia A side, Friday.
“He’s just coming a couple days early as a bit of precaution, if Stoinis doesn’t recover quick enough or doesn’t respond to treatment well enough over the next few days,” added Finch.
Stoinis bowled seven overs for 62 runs against India, picking up the wickets of Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. However, he was dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a duck as Australia fell short of the victory target by 36 runs.
The absence of Stoinis could open up a spot for seamers Kane Richardson and Jason Behrendorff, off-spinner Nathan Lyon or middle-order batsman Shaun Marsh against Pakistan, who lost all five ODIs against Australia earlier this year.
“It’s just about trying to weigh up whether we go with (Shaun) Marsh tomorrow, or we go with a extra bowler and play Alex Carey at six,” Finch pointed out.
“We’ve got to find a few more overs now, whether we play the extra batter or extra bowler, we’ll wait and see, and especially tomorrow with the conditions,” the Aussie skipper added.
Defending champions Australia won their opening two games against Afghanistan and West Indies before losing to India.
Reuters