Australia's World Cup campaign has hit another hurdle with star allrounder Mitchell Marsh ruled out of the England clash after flying home for personal reasons.
Marsh has flown home to Perth and will not play in Saturday's clash with England in Ahmedabad. This comes on the back of Glenn Maxwell being ruled out of the clash after suffering a concussion during a golf day on Monday.
Cricket Australia confirmed in a statement on Thursday that Marsh had flown home on Wednesday night. "Australian allrounder Mitchell Marsh has returned home from the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 late last night for personal reasons," the statement said. "A timeline on his return to the squad is to be confirmed. No further detail will be offered at this time."
Marcus Stoinis is likely to be fit to come into the side having recovered from a minor calf problem that has kept him out of the last two matches against the Netherlands and New Zealand but Cameron Green will also be set for a recall while Marnus Labuschagne is likely to remain in the middle order. Australia will be down to only 13 fit players for the clash with England with Sean Abbott and Alex Carey the only others available in the squad.
"He's flown home late last night: he's got a family issue going on," Stoinis said on Thursday morning. "And, like we all know, family is very important. He's doing the right thing and he's getting home and he's seeing the people he needs to see and then I don't think there's a timeline on when he's coming back but I'm sure he'll do what he needs to do at home and then and then get back. He sent me a message last night saying, 'I'll be home for a little bit and then I'm coming back to win this World Cup' so that makes me smile.
"You miss him off the field or in terms of his energy and his personality around the team as much as we're going to miss him on the field. But you can pretty much see how the team's going to line up anyway, and there's bases covered. I joked with him that he just passes the overs back to me now - and thanks for that... We will miss him and yeah, he'll be back soon. And the train keeps rolling."
Marsh's absence will also likely mean that Steven Smith will return to his preferred position at No.3. But it is a huge blow to Australia's balance with two of their most explosive and destructive players in Marsh and Maxwell missing for the match against England as they look to shore up a semi-final spot.
Stoinis confirmed that he is hoping to be fit enough to bowl 10 overs - if required - following his calf issue. "I'll have a big training session today [Thursday], go through my paces. But I think I'm ready to go, touch wood," he said. He attempted to convince coach Andrew McDonald and selector George Bailey that he was available to face New Zealand in Dharamsala last week, but they decided to delay his return by a week.
"There's been moving parts... it hasn't been the smoothest campaign and we've gone from losing the first couple to now sitting in the top four," Stoinis said. "There is a silver lining there. It always feels good when you walk towards the finals and boys starting coming back into the team and that sort of thing. We saw it with Heady [Travis Head] last game so it could be our secret weapon."