Extra details about Australian captain Mitchell Marsh’s injury have been revealed. Ex-Gujarat Titans keeper Matthew Wade, the Australian assistant coach’s throw, has been found guilty of causing discomfort to the skipper, for which Steve Smith has been flown to Sri Lanka as a possible backup for the World Cup.
Australia’s entry into the T20 World Cup has been through an awful patch in the shortest format of the game. The Aussies have been plagued by several injuries and have almost lost all of their in-form and crucial players. They lost the series against Pakistan, and the all-rounders Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell were not part of all games, nor were the openers Head and Marsh. Tim David, the launching middle-order batter, has been kept out by an injury since the BBL.
The Aussies were just looking to secure their pace deck after their two most veteran pacers, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, were ruled out of participation in the World Cup. Amid this, Nathan Ellis and Xavier Bartlett started taking control of the Australian attack; however, they have faced a new blow with their skipper being ruled out for an uncertain period of time.
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“It wasn’t spoken about too much,” said Nathan Ellis on their injured skipper
As per the latest reports, Mitchell Marsh suffered testicular bleeding, which was revealed by scans after a whanger throwdown hit on the box for the Australian captain. Smith has been summoned to join the Twenty20 World Cup squad in Colombo ahead of their clash against Sri Lanka.
Mitchell Marsh has not been ruled out of the entire stretch of the tournament, and he is likely to be part of the tournament during the later stages, once he makes a comeback. Smith then boarded the flight from Adelaide and confirmed on Thursday that he will be available for Australia’s game against Sri Lanka.
“We sort of got an inkling probably yesterday and it sort of played out today, so never a great scenario for the team when you lose a captain, but also for the person who goes to bed last night thinking they’re not playing and then has to come in,” said Ellis on Mitchell Marsh.
However, the speedster confirmed that they probably have the most easygoing group in the world; hence, Travis Head soon took over as the stand-in captain and never looked under any kind of pressure during their match against Ireland. However, he also said that the Australian side missed Mitchell Marsh, but that was not a much-spoken affair.
Ellis continued, “So yeah, thankfully, obviously, we all want Mitchie there, and we love Mitchie leading us. But yeah, it wasn’t spoken about too much, and we just tried to hit the ground running.”
Can Steve Smith be included even if Mitchell Marsh is retained in the World Cup squad?
As of now, Steve Smith has been roped in as a replacement for Mitchell Marsh. However, even if Australia wants to keep Marsh’s chances of a comeback alive, they could add the veteran Australian cricketer as a replacement for Josh Hazlewood.
Sean Abbott was called in as a replacement for Josh Hazlewood, but he has not been added to the squad until now. If Australian management is positive on their pace deck without Abbott, then they can revamp their batting depth with Steve Smith’s addition.
Tim David is in the last stages of a recovery from a hamstring injury, and Matt Renshaw looked very reluctant to play shots due to the lack of batting depth for Australia. The 5th wicket would expose youngster Cooper Connolly and the bowlers to the opposition’s bowling attack.
“There’s obviously a lot of noise around Steve Smith scoring runs in the BBL. But our top order is world-class” – Nathan Ellis
Steve Smith has been called up to Sri Lanka on the back of his spectacular performance in the Big Bash League over the last few seasons. However, Australian pacer Nathan Ellis believes that, though he is a superstar cricketer, the top-order that has been finalised over the last 18 months is of the highest quality for Australia.
The Australian top order comprises Travis Head and captain Mitchell Marsh, who form the explosive opening pair for them and are then backed by big-hitting all-rounder Cameron Green, who has taken up the no. 3 role with some grace.
“We actually haven’t played a game with him in a long time for Australia. He’s obviously a gun. He’s one of the world’s best,” Ellis said of Smith.
“But yeah, mate, we’ve had 18 months and about 20 T20 games leading up to this where we’ve had a top order who have absolutely brained it. There’s obviously a lot of noise around Steve Smith scoring runs in the BBL. But our top order is world-class,” he added.
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