Pat Cummins
Photo Credit: (Getty Images)

Australia Test skipper Pat Cummins allayed the fears of running short of bowlers for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka as the list of injured players from the visitors’ camps continued to increase. 

All-rounder Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc are currently unavailable for at least the first three ODIs of the five-match series. Pace bowler Kane Richardson was ruled out of the ODI series after suffering a hamstring injury. 

Australia’s injury woes continue in the Sri Lanka tour

After the conclusion first ODI, all-rounders Marcus Stoinis and Ashton Agar joined the list of the injured players in the ongoing Sri Lanka tour. Stoinis suffered a side strain while batting whereas Agar ended up hurting his side during the game on Tuesday in Pallekele. 

As a result, Travis Head and uncapped spinner Matthew Kunheman have been added to Australia’s ODI squad for the remaining matches. Both Head and Kunheman were part of Australia ‘A’ squad for the four-day tour match against Sri Lanka in Hambantota. 

Scott Boland, who has played 14 ODIs for Australia, also joined the ODI squad on Tuesday and will be available for selection. Wicketkeeper-batter Jimmy Pierson and Tanveer Sangha will replace Head and Kunheman in the A squad.

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With all the uncertainties looming around the Australian squad, Cummins, who was rested for the T20I series, alongside Josh Hazlewood might end up playing all four ODI matches, though, earlier it wasn’t the part of the plan. That might make the duo prone to injuries and they could miss the Test series.

Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins (Image Credit: Twitter)

Cummins said that they have the strength of the Australian A squad in case any of the frontline players happens to be injured further. 

“We’ll try our best not for that to happen. The planning was going to be for perfect preparation. We have the Aussie A team over here with a big squad. There’s always going to be some things that crop up, so it’s not ideal with the amount of injuries that have happened, but we’ll strike that balance,” Cummins said on Wednesday in a press conference. 

“The Test matches are certainly front of mind even in this [one-day] series, so I don’t think much will change from what I’m going to do this series,” he added. 

We don’t want to rush Mitchell Starc: Pat Cummins

Starc suffered a finger injury in the first T20I, where he slashed his left index finger on a boot spike in a bizarre injury. The lanky pacer missed the last two T20Is and Cummins said they won’t be rushing him to play. 

Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc. Image: Cricket Australia

“He’s a bit of a wait and see. He had a bowl the other day. I think the plan was getting stitches out in the next day or two. We don’t want to rush him. We don’t want to put the rest of the series in jeopardy by reopening that [wound] too early. There’s no timeline on that. A good result would be to have him play some of this [one-day] series,” Cummins said. 

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Australia will play Sri Lanka in the second ODI at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on June 16. 

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