Marsh injury blow for Australia
AUSTRALIA is set to lose a fourth member of its batting top order for the Test series against Pakistan, with Mitch Marsh booked in for ankle surgery.
Marsh will go under the knife next week, ruling him out of June’s ODI series in England and the two-Test series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. It means selectors will have to find an- other replacement to slot into Australia’s top six.
Matt Renshaw, Joe Burns and Peter Handscomb were all called in for the final Test of the South African series, replacing the suspended Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. Glenn Maxwell looms as the likely option, given he was flown over as cover to South Africa and the Victorian enjoyed success last year in India.
Australia’s batsmen were already looking fragile before Marsh’s injury, given Smith and Warner had made the bulk of their runs in recent years and they survived just 116.4 overs without them in Johannesburg. Usman Khawaja is now set to be retained, despite having been hidden on the most recent trips to Asia.
Next week’s operation is a bitter blow for 26-year-old Marsh, who had been floated as a likely vice-captain of the national side, amid the leader- ship crisis created by the sackings of Smith and Warner.
It will also mean Marsh will have to pull out of a county stint with Surrey, which could theoretically open the door for Smith to replace him as an overseas player, given he spent time at the club as a teenager.
Marsh’s original decision to sacrifice a likely million-dollar contract in the IPL was a clear signal of intent to improve his form in English conditions ahead of next year’s Ashes.