ICC World Cup 2019: AUS rope in all-rounder as cover for injured Marcus Stoinis

After a defeat against India, Australia have received another blow in the ICC World Cup 2019 in the form of injury to Marcus Stoinis. The team management has added another all-rounder Mitchell Marsh as a cover for Stonis for the game against Pakistan.

Stoinis’ injury may escalate 

BREAKING: Mitch Marsh to join Aussie squad as injury cover with Marcus Stoinis ruled out of tomorrow’s Pakistan clash #CWC19 https://t.co/7CaVwqS8Dc

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) June 11, 2019

Marcus Stoinis is facing a side strain which has ruled him out from the match against Pakistan. The severity of his injury is not known yet and the team management will take a call after his next assessment.

The all-rounder will have a check-up prior to the clash against Sri Lanka which will be on Saturday. Meanwhile the team management has roped in all-rounder Mitchell Marsh as  like-for-like replacement for Stoinis.

Marsh was not a part of the initial World Cup squad and infact was a part of Australia A team which will be travelling to England.

The question of Stonis’ replacement

If Stoinis’ injury is severe then the all-rounder may be ruled out of the remaining tournament which means Australia can get a replacement for him as ICC permits changes in the squad if a player is injured during the tournament.

However  once a replacement is made, the player is not allowed to come back in the squad. Hence, Australia will have to be dead sure of Stoinis’ recovery period.

In the situation of his replacement, it will be interesting to see who will Australia bank on. Marsh seems to be the obvious choice but the team may also consider having an extra pacer.

Australia’s squad for ICC World Cup 2019

Australia kickstarted their World Cup campaign by defeating Afghanistan withe ease in the first game and then won a tight game against Windies. However the team was defeated by India in their third match and now they face Pakistan on Wednesday.

Australia’s World Cup squad: Aaron Finch (c),David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Shaun Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Kane Richardson, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins