IND vs AUS: Andrew McDonald Provides Massive Update On Marcus Stoinis' Availability For World Cup 2023 Opener
Published - 05 Oct 2023, 06:36 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:19 AM
Head coach Andrew McDonald has confirmed that Marcus Stoinis’ availability is uncertain for Australia’s ICC World Cup 2023 opener. Andrew McDonald highlighted that the team management will make a final call on his participation based on upcoming training sessions.
Marcus Stoinis sustained a hamstring injury during the recent ODI series against India in Mohali. The right-handed batter missed the remaining two matches of the series. He was unavailable for the two warm-up matches against the Netherlands and Pakistan.
We Weren’t Prepared To Risk Marcus Stoinis In Practice Games – Andrew McDonald
Speaking ahead of the match against India, Andrew McDonald revealed the reason behind Marcus Stoinis‘ absence in the practice games, saying they didn’t want to rush him.
“It was the Mohali game, (Stoinis) pulled up a little bit sore from that. Further investigation led to that being a slight hamstring. He’ll be touch and go for game one. He certainly hasn’t been ruled out of that, but we weren’t prepared to risk him in those practice games,” McDonald told reporters.
“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. These next couple of days (are) really important for him to press for selection for game one and we’ll see how that unfolds,” he added.
The Australian team will face the Rohit Sharma-led side in their World Cup 2023 opener at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday, October 8th.
We Haven’t Ruled That Out – Andrew McDonald
Andrew McDonald mentioned the possibility of including both Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green in the playing XI. He emphasized the importance of flexibility during the lengthy World Cup campaign.
“Over the last 18 months, we’ve wanted to build three ways of playing and one of those ways is definitely with all the allrounders and potentially two quicks. You’ve seen that side be played in the past 18 months so there is a real possibility that both of those players can be in the same XI and we haven’t ruled that out.”
“Behind the scenes, we’re pretty clear on the way that we want to go about it. That’ll be surface dependent and clearly body dependent as well. The World Cup, it’s a long campaign, there’s no doubt going to be some sore bodies at certain times. We feel as though with (our) squad that we’ve got great flexibility … and that’ll give us greater scope to shift and manoeuvre the side the way that we have over the last eight months.”
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
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Andrew Mcdonald Australia National Cricket Team ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 ICC ODI World Cup 2023 ICC World Cup 2023 Marcus Stoinis
