Stoinis suffers side strain; Mitch Marsh joins as cover

It seems as if ICC has ordered every team in the 2019 World Cup to provide at least one injury news. Jokes aside, almost every team in the competition is facing an injury problem. The latest entry in the list is Australia. All-rounder Marcus Stoinis has suffered side strain and he has been ruled out of the next game against Pakistan. Reserve all-rounder Mitchell Marsh shall be joining the squad. He will be taking Stoinis’ place if the all-rounder is ruled out of the competition.

Stoinis has featured in all three of Australia’s matches in the competition. Against India at The Oval, Stoinis registered the figures of 62/2 from seven overs which featured a stunning caught-and-bowled effort to dismiss MS Dhoni. Stoinis’ other wicket was of the Indian captain, Virat Kohli. The all-rounder failed with the bat and was out for a two-ball duck. Earlier in the competition, he had scored 19 against West Indies and had taken 2/37 versus Afghanistan.

As per the ICC rules, if an injured player is replaced in the ongoing tournament, he cannot be called back in the squad even after reaching full fitness. Australia’s next encounter in the 2019 World Cup is against Pakistan on Taunton’s County Ground. Not having Stoinis will leave a void in the side as Australia does not have an extra all-rounder in the 15-man squad.

Marsh had been expected to travel to the UK later this week for Australia A tour matches against county teams. He has now been called up to be available as cover for Stoinis. Marsh was a part of Australia’s winning World Cup campaign in 2015. He has played 53 ODIs with 1,219 runs and 44 wickets.

Australia is currently fourth in the points table with two wins from three matches. They had defeated Afghanistan and West Indies before they went down to India by 36 runs. The Australians will be hoping to return to the winning ways against Pakistan at Taunton.