Stoinis out of Pak clash, Marsh called in

Taunton, June 11 

Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has been ruled out of their next World Cup match against Pakistan with a side strain, captain Aaron Finch said. Stoinis, who has played in all three games for Australia in the tournament, picked up the injury in the match against India at The Oval on Sunday.

All-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been flown over to England as back-up, but the Australians will wait to make a call on whether he permanently replaces Stoinis in their 15-man squad. “Marcus Stoinis has a bit of a side strain. He won't be available for tomorrow,” Finch told a news conference ahead of Wednesday's match against Pakistan in Taunton.

“We've got Mitch Marsh flying over just as a bit of a precaution. He was meant to fly over with the Australia A side on Friday. He's just coming a couple days early as a bit of precaution, if Stoinis doesn't recover quick enough or doesn't respond to treatment well enough over the next few days.” Stoinis bowled seven overs for 62 runs against India, picking up the wickets of Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

But he was dismissed for a duck and Australia fell 36 runs short of India's total of 352 to lose the match. Australia's pace duo Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins found their rhythm early against India but the supporting cast of leg-spinner Adam Zampa and seamers Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile struggled to keep it tight in the middle overs. The absence of Stoinis could open up a spot for seamers Kane Richardson and Jason Behrendorff, off-spinner Nathan Lyon or middle-order batsman Shaun Marsh against Pakistan, who lost all five ODIs against Australia earlier this year. 

Finch hopes washouts don’t hurt Australia’s chances

Finch hopes the holders don’t become the latest World Cup team to be derailed by bad weather. Heavy rain has forced two no-results in the World Cup so far and Finch has been anxiously eyeing the forecast to see if Australia could be the next victims when they face Pakistan. There is rain predicted in the Taunton area on Wednesday and Finch conceded luck with the weather could play a role in who makes the semifinals from the 10-team group stage. Australia failed to qualify for the semifinals of the 2017 Champions Trophy in England following their rained-off matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh before they lost to England on D/L method. — Agencies

Pitch and conditions

A high-scoring venue for domestic One-day cricket. Cloudy day with showers expected

55 Glenn Maxwell’s average vs Pakistan. It is his best against any opposition in ODIs. He has scored seven fifty-plus scores in 15 innings against Pakistan 

3 Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh game was the third match — a record — in the tournament to be abandoned due to rain. The previous highest number of abandoned games in a World Cup edition was two, in 1992 and 2003 

1 ST Time in the World Cup history more than one game has been washed out without a ball bowled, because of rain in a single edition. In the 1979 and 2015 editions one game was washed out. As of now, two games have been washed out in the 2019 edition

Aus vs Pak in World Cup

• Matches 9
• Australia won 5
• Pakistan won 4

Form Guide

• Australia: LWWWW
• Pakistan: LLLWW
• (L=lost W=won; Last five completed matches, most recent first)