Mitchell Marsh has been ruled out of the limited over series against Pakistan after suffering a hip-flexor injury while training ahead of the first ODI.
The star all-rounder was injured during the team’s practice session on Sunday ahead of the first ODI at Gaddafi Stadium. The 30-year-old hurt his hip flexor during a fielding drill which is expected to keep him out of all the white-ball games.
Cameron Green, who played an instrumental role in helping Australia beat Pakistan in the recently concluded Test series has been named as his replacement.
“He’s injured his hip flexor, we think, at training. We are going to have to wait and see what that looks like, but I don’t think he’ll be available for the series based on how he was feeling yesterday. He sustained that (injury) in a fielding drill. It was a high-intensity, lateral movement drill, and he bent down to pick it up one-handed and went to throw and felt a twinge, “Australian white-ball captain Aaron Finch was quoted as saying.
Mitchell Marsh has solidified himself as a limited-overs specialist in recent times, playing a superb knock in the final to deliver Australia a T20 World Cup win in Dubai.
Cameron Green, his replacement, has only played a solitary ODI for Australia thus far but Finch remains confident that he will be able to bring his success in tests to the limited over games as well.
“Cam will play and probably bat in that middle-order role,” Finch said. “We’ve seen he’s a super talented cricketer. He’s someone who has been quite consistent in his Test career, his impact with the bat and ball can’t be understated. Really excited for Cam to get that opportunity.”
Marsh’s unavailability is another blow for Australia with Steve Smith and Kane Richardson already ruled out with injuries and Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, David Warner having traveled home for some well-earned rest after the test series against Pakistan.
The first ODI of the three-match series starts on Tuesday.
