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Stoinis has time until Bangladesh clash to prove his fitness
Stoinis suffered a side strain while bowling in the match against India, and went on to miss the subsequent game against Pakistan © Getty
Australia are sweating over the fitness of Marcus Stoinis, who'll be unavailable for their next game against Sri Lanka owing to a side strain, and the all-rounder might only have time until Australia's match against Bangladesh on June 20 to prove his fitness, failing which he might have to make way for Mitchell Marsh in the squad.
Stoinis, who suffered the injury while bowling in the match against India, missed the subsequent game against Pakistan. Between Australia's match against Sri Lanka on Saturday (June 15) and the match versus Bangladesh, Stoinis will have a four-day break to recuperate from his injury but the time is short for the 29-year-old to show that he's match ready, with Mitchell Marsh already accompanying the team as cover.
"He won't be available again for tomorrow. He hasn't bowled yet in his recovery over the last couple of days. So having four days between this game and the next game, I think that will be the ideal time to really test him out and assess him. But I think over the over the next five-six days, there will be a call made on that, just based on what he can and can't do. We've seen him batting and running, no problem. Just he hasn't tried to bowl yet. Just waiting for the injury to settle down a bit more," said Australia skipper Aaron Finch.
"It's tough when guys [are injured], especially all-rounders who balance out your side really well, give you that extra fast-bowling option, as well as a top-six batter. So it's a little bit difficult trying to decide whether you go the extra batter or the extra bowler, depending on conditions. So I think it does make it a little bit tougher, a bit more of a challenge, no doubt. But we also did plan for that, if it did happen throughout the tournament, before you sit down and you start planning out what happens if X, Y, Z happens? So it wasn't a total surprise. Obviously it's not ideal, but it's not a surprise to us because we had already thought about things like that. But just game-to-game, it totally changes depending on the conditions." added Finch.
In their previous match against Pakistan, Australia had to include both Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh in their middle order, with both left-handers not really making their presence felt. With the five-time World Cup champions having ignored proven middle-order batsmen like Peter Handscomb and Ashton Turner in favour of David Warner and Steven Smith, the injury to Stoinis has put a question mark over the finishing ability of the Australian batting order.
Coach Justin Langer, however, came to the defence of Shaun Marsh and Khawaja, reflecting on the former's T20 record and the latter's ability to adapt to different positions.
"Shaun Marsh is a very, very explosive player. I remember seeing him hit 28 [27] off an over in the semi-final. You've got to be pretty explosive to hit 28 off an over. He's been an incredible player for the Scorchers in Big Bash cricket, he's a very explosive player. It's exciting having him anywhere in the order and he can hit the ball as hard and as far as anyone in the world. And Uzzie does it his way.
"When you go in (later in the innings) there's different pressures. In a lot of ways, it's an easier time. It's an older ball and there's lot of gaps in the field. He'll [Khawaja] adapt. And there will be times when he comes on the second ball of the day. I hope it doesn't happen, but he might."
In the game against Pakistan, with Australia getting off to a solid start thanks to their openers, Glenn Maxwell was used as a floater up the order at No. 4. Although he got out after a promising start, Langer was confident that Maxwell would come up with valuable contributions going forward.
"We showed some flexibility with our order. His [Maxwell] strike-rate was high but would like to see Maxi get a match-changing innings like he's done so many times before," Langer said. "We've got a very good batting side and I'm sure the opportunities will come. That's the beauty of having Glenn Maxwell in the team. He brings energy and we obviously know how brilliant he is against spin bowling, so that is the beauty of having him."
