Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to miss T20I against Pakistan with hamstring injury, doubtful for UAE tour
All-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been ruled out of Australia’s T20 international against Pakistan on Sunday due to a hamstring injury which he suffered while playing for Perth Scorchers in the ongoing Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20).
Marsh is also in doubt for the 3-match ODI series and Test series that follows the T20I, putting into jeopardy Australia’s plans, especially after senior all-rounder Shane Watson was ruled out of the entire tour courtesy of a calf injury.
"He's not playing the T20 and he's unlikely to be okay for the one-dayers," Alex Kountouris, Australian team physiotherapist, said. "The timelines are just too tight and we're probably not going to have a crack at it I don't think. He's moving around okay and seems okay, but we'll wait and see for the Test matches how he progresses. There's certainly enough time for the Test matches."
Marsh had tweaked his hamstring while fielding in Scorchers’ last CLT20 game against Lahore Lions, forcing him out of the field for a long time. He did, however, come out to bat later, and played a blinding innings of 63* off 38 balls to rescue his team from 40/6 and get them across the finish line in the run chase.
After the match, Marsh had remained hopeful of his injury healing in time for the T20I, but those hopes were in vain as the injury reportedly worsened on his flight to Dubai. He had been operated on the injured hamstring a couple of years back, and scans have indicated that he has possibly torn scar tissue from his previous injury.
"Trying to decipher what's new, what's old, what's abnormal, what's normal, is a bit hard," Kountouris said. "So we're getting some opinions from back home from the guy who did the surgery, just to double-check with what we're doing. The consensus is that he's only torn the scar tissue but we're still looking into it.
"If that's the only thing that's happened it's going to be a sort of mild hamstring strain. It might get better really quickly or it might get better very slowly. That's what we don't know because of the unique nature of the injury."
Marsh has been the highest run-scorer for Perth Scorchers in this tournament, with 126 runs in 4 matches at an average of 63 and strike rate of 126. Though Perth were unable to qualify for the CLT20 semis, Marsh twice pulled them out of the hole, hitting two sixes off the last two balls against Dolphins and then playing a captain’s knock against Lahore Lions.
If he’s is able to recover before the two Test series against Pakistan which begins on October 22, it will be a very proud day for the Marsh family as Mitchell will join his brother Shaun and father Geoff as Australia Test cricketers.