Australia‘s injury woes have deepened further on their tour of Sri Lanka, with all-rounder Marcus Stoinis getting ruled out of the remainder of the ongoing ODI series. Stoinis has been ruled out due to a side strain he suffered while batting during the recently-concluded first ODI at the Pallekele Stadium on Tuesday.
With Stonis’ tour of Sri Lanka getting over, the visitors will be without a fully fit seam-bowling all-rounder as Mitchell Marsh (calf injury) is not expected to be available until the third ODI and Cameron Green is being held back from bowling to manage his workload.
Further, left-arm spinner Ashton Agar‘s future on the trip remains doubtful as he is also suffering from a side strain. However, Agar will stay with the squad as he is eying to regain fitness for the upcoming two Tests that conclude the tour.
The tourists have called left-handed batter Travis Head and uncapped spinner Matthew Kuhnemann from ongoing Australia A four-day match against Sri Lanka A in Hambantota as replacements for Stonis and Agar, respectively. Queensland wicketkeeper-batter Jimmy Peirson and leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha have been permitted to come into the Australia A side for the final two days in Hambantota.
The ODI leg is being considered as a useful preparation for the next year’s World Cup, but since it is not carrying any Super League qualifying points, the major focus is on the forthcoming Test series and red-ball skipper Pat Cummins believes the same.
“We’ll try our best not for that to happen. The planning was going to be for perfect preparation. We have the Aussie A team over here with a big squad. There’s always going to be some things that crop up, so it’s not ideal with the amount of injuries that have happened, but we’ll strike that balance. The Test matches are certainly front of mind even in this [one-day] series, so I don’t think much will change from what I’m going to do this series,” said Cummins, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
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