SL vs AUS | 'We have the Aussie A team over here with a big squad,' Pat Cummins dismisses injury woes

Australia have had a pretty remarkable start to their Sri Lankan tour. After having sealed the T20I series, the visitors claimed a victory in the first of the five-match ODI series. However, the main concern for the reigning T20 World Champions lies in their injury department. Marcus Stoinis and Ashton Agar join the list of players on the treatment table, after suffering injuries in the first ODI.

Marcus Stoinis’ tour has been cut short following a side strain. After picking up a side strain, Ashton Agar has been ruled out for at least the next fixture. Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Marsh are also recovering from their respective injuries and are unavailable for at least the first three ODIs. Kane Richardson was also ruled out of the 50-over format due to a hamstring injury.

However, Pat Cummins dismissed concerns over an injury crisis, given that the visitors have travelled with the A-squad. One area in which Australia could come short is their bowling department, with a two-match Test series lined up. Australia’s red-ball skipper believes that these kinds of uncertainties are unavoidable on a long tour, and they have enough reinforcements to call upon.

Australia A squad members Travis Head and Matthew Kuhnemann have been called upon to join the senior squad for the remainder of the ODI series. 

“We’ll try our best not for that to happen. The planning was going to be for perfect preparation. We have the Aussie A team over here with a big squad. There’s always going to be some things that crop up, so it’s not ideal with the amount of injuries that have happened, but we’ll strike that balance,” Cummins stated in the press conference ahead of the second ODI.

The Australian Test captain also stated that they would not be rushing Mitchell Starc into action early. The left-arm pacer suffered a finger injury in the first T20I. However, Cummins remains optimistic about Starc’s involvement in the final few ODIs.

“He’s a bit of a wait and see. He had a bowl the other day. I think the plan was getting stitches out in the next day or two. We don’t want to rush him. We don’t want to put the rest of the series in jeopardy by reopening that [wound] too early. There’s no timeline on that. A good result would be to have him play some of this [one-day] series,” Cummins said. 

Australia will look forward to claiming a 2-0 series lead when they face Sri Lanka in Pallekele on Thursday, June 16. Despite the injury crisis, Aaron Finch’s men still enter as the mighty favourites.