Mitch Marsh suffers injury blow on eve of Pakistan ODIs

Cameron Green is likely to replace Marsh in the middle order of Australia's inexperienced line-up

Mitch Marsh is set to be replaced by Cameron Green in the upcoming ODI series after Australia's T20 World Cup star suffered a hip injury in training.

The allrounder is the latest loss to an already depleted squad that is missing Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, David Warner, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell.

Marsh hadn't played for Australia since being named as player of the match in the T20 final against New Zealand last November.

"He's injured his hip-flexor, we think, at training," said captain Aaron Finch. "We are going to have to wait and see what that looks like but I don't think he'll be available for the series based on how he was feeling yesterday.

"He sustained that in a fielding drill, it was a high intensity, lateral movement drill and he bent down to pick it up one handed and went to throw and felt a twinge."

He is due to join up with Delhi Capitals for the Indian Premier League following the series, with no word yet on whether that is now unlikely to happen. Marsh has missed the two previous editions; he suffered an ankle injury in the first game of the 2020 tournament and pulled out ahead of last year's competition, citing bubble fatigue.

^{Cameron Green, who has played just one ODI so far, is Marsh's likely replacement (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)}

Finch confirmed that Green would likely take his place in the middle order.

He added: "We've still got a really solid idea of what our squad and our eleven would look like if the World Cup was tomorrow. It's about making sure we are building that depth.

"It's a great opportunity for guys to put their hands up and really build a case for their long-term spot in the squad; the excitement of having a younger side is huge as well. It's about guys taking their opportunities when they present themselves."

In the absence of their experienced seam attack, Australia will rely on Nathan Ellis, Sean Abbott and left-armer Jason Behrendorff, as well as Green, who has only played a single ODI in his burgeoning career alongside 12 Test caps.

Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head, both members of the Test side that won the historic series last week, have been added to the squad for the ODIs, which will all take place in Lahore.

Related Topics

• Steve Smith out of Australia's white-ball tour of Pakistan through injury

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