All-rounder Stoinis set to make Australia debut in Cardiff

Rory Dollard 09:20 31/08/2015
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  • Opportunity: Stoinis.

    Australia will hand a debut to Victoria all-rounder Marcus Stoinis when their limited-overs series against England kicks off on Monday.

    Stoinis, 26, will be the newest face in a much-changed side, with just five of those who played in their 3-2 Ashes defeat on parade.

    Captain Steve Smith, deputising in the short format for the injured Aaron Finch, showed his hand on the eve of the match and confirmed Stoinis would play at the SSE Swalec despite having only nine T20 matches under his belt at domestic level.

    He will be joined by leg-spinner Cameron Boyce, who is not part of Australia’s ODI party and has therefore undertaken a 20,000 mile round trip for the chance of a four-over spell.

    Shane Watson, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc are those held over from the Ashes campaign, but Smith is interested to see how the new arrivals fare.

    “I played in the Under-19 World Cup with Marcus Stoinis in Malaysia in 2008 and he’s certainly come a long way,” said the skipper.

    “He’s improved every year. He’s thrown up good performances, first of all at Western Australia and then moving over to Victoria was a big move for him.

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    “He’s put the numbers on the board there and thoroughly deserves an opportunity here. There’s a World T20 coming up in not too long, so we need these guys to play as much as they can.

    “Cameron performed really well for us in the one-off T20 we played in the UAE (against Pakistan) and I’m sure he’s looking forward to playing out here again.

    “He’s got a lot of skill, got a lot of variation. It’s going to be a good test for him bowling out here, with the short, straight boundaries and the short boundary on one side. I’m really looking forward to seeing how he goes.”

    The sight of a new Australian leg-spinner could play on English minds, given the indelible mark left on the nation’s psyche by Shane Warne.

    Smith, of course, debuted as an aspiring ‘leggie’ himself before it became clear that batting was his true calling and he was keen to remove any Warne comparisons from Boyce. “We’ll see how we go with Cameron,” he said.

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