(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis might miss out on the team’s World Cup 2023 campaign-opener, scheduled versus Australia on October 8 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
Australia head coach Andrew McDonald informed about Stoinis’ fitness concern, stating that a hamstring niggle forced him out of action from the side’s most recent matches.
In a press conference, McDonald revealed that Stoinis is racing against time to get fit for Australia’s opening clash in the ongoing World Cup.
Stoinis last played in the first fixture of the recently-concluded India-Australia ODI series at Mohali. He was also not available for the warm-up games due to the injury only.
“He’s got a slight hamstring complaint at this stage, so that’s why he
missed the practice games and he’ll be touch and go for the first game
against India. We’ve got the main session today and then another hit out
tomorrow, so he’ll go through his work there and we’ll see whether he’s
available for selection for game one but at the moment he wasn’t fit
and available for those practice games,” McDonald said as quoted.
Although Australia would have gone with one of Stoinis and Cameron Green most likely, McDonald did not rule out the possibility of including both the all-rounders in the same playing XI.
“There’s a way that we can fit them both into the one side. Over the last
18 months, we’ve had a pretty clear way that we want to build three
ways of playing. One of those ways is definitely with all the
all-rounders and potentially two quicks, and you’ve seen that side in
the past 18 months being played, so there is a real possibility that
both of those players can be in the same XI and we haven’t ruled that
out.”
This would only be possible if Australia chose to drop Marnus Labuschagne, who just recently found his mojo in the ODI format.