BBL 2022-23: Perth Scorchers suffer massive blow as Mitchell Marsh, Phil Salt ruled out of the season

Four-time BBL Champions Perth Scorchers will not have the services of all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and England’s Phil Salt for the upcoming season which starts on December 13. Marsh had undergone an ankle surgery recently and has been ruled out for at least three months of action. The 31-year-old has played a key role for the franchise in winning the tournament last year and was expected to make a big impact in the title defence.

On the other hand, Salt was roped in by the Perth Scorchers in the silver round of the BBL draft this year. However, he is yet to recover from a grade two ligament injury which he sustained during the final ODI against Australia recently and has been advised to rest. Perth had recently added veteran batter Faf du Plessis to their squad as a replacement for Laurie Evans and are likely to name the replacements for Marsh and Salt soon. 

We're under no illusions about how difficult it will be without them: Perth Scorchers Manager 

Perth Scorchers General Manager Kade Harvey, noted his disappointment on losing out the two batters and explained the huge role they could have played in the side. He further hoped that the depth of the squad will still rescue them and instilled belief in the other players of the squad.  

"Losing Mitch and Phil so close to the start of the season is very disappointing. Mitch is one of the best ball-strikers in global cricket with an incredible MBBL record, and his leadership and presence around the group is enormous,” Perth Scorchers General Manager - High Performance, Kade Harvey, said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

"Phil has proven his class for England and in T20 tournaments around the world, so it's unfortunate he won't pull on the orange this summer. We're under no illusions about how difficult it will be to cover the absence of Mitch and Phil, but we take pride in the depth of our squad and have a lot of players capable of stepping up," he added.