Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has been ruled out of the 2019 ICC World Cup clash against Pakistan on Wednesday with a side strain and is a doubt for the rest of the tournament.
Stoinis picked up the injury while bowling his fifth over in Australia’s 36-run defeat to India but did go on bowl a further two overs at the death. The all-rounder’s injury is now set to be assessed once again before Sunday’s clash against Sri Lanka following which a final decision is expected to be made by the Australian team management.
Meanwhile, all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been flown in as cover for Stoinis as a precautionary move.
“Not exactly sure on how many games he’ll (Stoinis) miss,” Australia skipper Aaron Finch said on the eve of the Pakistan clash.
“That’s why Mitch is flying over. It’s still being assessed. And over the next couple of days we’ll have a clearer picture of what that looks like. Mitch was meant to fly over with the Australia A side on Friday.
“He’s just coming a couple of 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.”
The Aussies will now take a call on whether to play an extra batsman or bowler to replace Stoinis for the clash against Pakistan at Taunton on Wednesday.
“We’re going to have to juggle around especially that allrounder spot,” Finch said.
“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.”
