World Cup 2019: Australia call up Matthew Wade and Mitchell Marsh as cover for Khawaja, Stoinis

Injuries have been haunting Australia throughout their World Cup 2019 campaign. They had a few concerns even before the tournament started and it doesn’t seem to be ending as of now. Ahead of the semi-final against England, the Kangaroos have got two injury blows to deal with. Usman Khawaja pulled his hamstring during the final league game against Sri Lanka.

He looked to be in pain and couldn’t continue batting. Thus, he had to walk off the field but returned towards the end when his team required him. This injury seems to have aggravated now. Also, Marcus Stoinis has been having a few concerns. He was ruled out briefly due to a side strain but has fought his way back into the eleven. That issue, though, seems to have surfaced yet again causing a bit of concern.

Matthew Wade gets a call-up at last

Thus, as a preventive measure, Cricket Australia (CA) has called up Matthew Wade and Mitchell Marsh as cover for the injured players according to cricket.com.au. These two players have been pulled out from the Australia-A squad who were set to play against Sussex on Sunday. Both of them have already left Brighton to join the Australia team in Birmingham where the second semi-final of the World Cup will be played.

Matthew Wade has been out of consideration for quite a while now. He has last played an ODI game against India in October 2017. Since then, even though he has scored heavily in domestic cricket, the selectors have overlooked him. Meanwhile, it is the second time Mitchell Marsh will be joining the team as he earlier came as a cover for Marcus Stoinis.

Both Marcus Stoinis and Usman Khawaja will undergo scans on Sunday which will decide their future. While there is uncertainty about the fitness of the former, the left-hander is most likely to be ruled out. Both Wade and Marsh have done extremely well in the one-day leg of the England tour.

Wade plundered 355 runs in four one-day innings including a 45-ball hundred against Derbyshire. He is most likely to be slotted in straight into the eleven if he gets picked and can bat at any position in the batting order.