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Cricket News : Australia faces another injury as Travis Head ruled out of final ODI

The Australian team is going through a bad phase as players keep adding to the injury list with the latest one being Travis Head.

Travis Head's hamstring strain has caused him to be ruled out of the final ODI in Colombo. Thus, this added another injury concern for Australia before the Test series against Sri Lanka.

Head has just six days to heal before the first Test in Galle after suffering the injury late in the fourth game. Australia would need to rearrange their middle order if he is unavailable for the first game on Wednesday.

Although Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis are both members of the Test team, there is currently no specialist batting cover. However, the Australia A team, who is now in Hambantota finishing off their tour, could provide reinforcements.

Matt Renshaw and Nic Maddinson would also be considered as middle-order alternatives. While Marcus Harris served as the backup batter on the Pakistan tour earlier this year. It might also leave room for Glenn Maxwell to return for a Test.

Steven Smith, who has been dealing with a quad strain, is unlikely to be risked before the Tests. While Mitchell Starc, who sustained a stitching after cutting his finger on the spike of his boot in the first T20I, is still out.

Meanwhile the Australian skipper Aaron Finch spoke out in a recent interview about Australia's recent injuries and how the team will miss Head

"[It's a] bit more of a precaution,"

"Especially, where he fields in the outfield, he does quite a lot of kilometres and the ground is quite heavy. Not sure what he's looking like for the Test matches. Just one more to add to the list at the moment. Starcy is still not right with his finger. Where it is, the stitching is still not quite 100% healed. Without being able to bowl without tape on, he'll be out as well.

Finch cited Australia's inability to create a significant partnership to carry them far into the innings with plenty of wickets in hand as the deciding factor in the ODI series, which Sri Lanka won by a score of four runs two days ago. In the previous two games, they fielded a lengthy batting order, with Cameron Green at No. 8.
"Anytime we've started to get any momentum in the game, we lose a wicket and in these conditions, once you lose one, they go back-to-back pretty quick,"

"Think, just maximising that main partnership where you can get to the 40th over maybe three down, has hindered us a bit." Said Aaron Finch.

During the white-ball portion of the tour, Australia has seen a significant loss of players.
Before the matches began, Sean Abbott (broken finger) was ruled out, and he was followed by Marsh (calf strain recovered).Moreover, Kane Richardson (hamstring), Marcus Stoinis (side), Ashton Agar (side), Starc, and Smith are all recovering from their respective injuries.

Thus, Australia needs to be careful with their team selection from now on as the T20 World Cup is on its way in the month of October this year.

The series against Zimbabwe and New Zealand, which begins at home in late August, will be Australia's next 50-over match after Friday's final ODI. Those encounters will result in World Cup Super League points, unlike these games against Sri Lanka. Their other home series against South Africa in January is also in doubt, as the CSA asked for it to be shifted so they could start their new T20 league.

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  • Released : 23-Jun-2022

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