Marcus Stoinis hopes a lack of red ball cricket won’t hurt his Ashes charge

Marcus Stoinis’s Ashes hopes hinge on selectors backing in his limited overs form with the all-rounder not expecting to face another red ball until next summer.

Marcus Stoinis celebrates a wicket with Adam Zampa and Peter Handscomb.

Marcus Stoinis’s Ashes hopes hinge on selectors backing in his limited overs form with the all-rounder not expecting to face another red ball until next summer.

Shane Warne has long endorsed Stoinis as either the all-rounder or specialist batsman Australia’s Test team desperately craves but the West Australian’s road to the Ashes will only feature the white ball.

Stoinis, 29, will play out the Big Bash League season for the Melbourne Stars before flying to India with Australia’s white-ball squad.

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Barring injury or an almighty collapse in form, Stoinis then looks set to play against Pakistan in the five-match ODI series in the UAE.

Stoinis will then link up with Virat Kohli’s Indian Premier League franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and after that it will be off to England with Australia’s World Cup squad.

“There’s not much you can do,” Stoinis said.

Marcus Stoinis in action for Melbourne Stars.

“There’s so much cricket, and everyone just tries to just do the best they can. Obviously I’ve made it pretty public that I want to be playing Test cricket.

“But there’s powers higher than me that are deciding all that sort of stuff. You just perform where you can and hopefully it translates in their eyes to Test cricket.”

Asked what he could do to earn Ashes selection, Stoinis said: “Make runs and take wickets, simple as that”.

It has already been six weeks since Stoinis batted Western Australia to a draw against Victoria at the MCG in his last Sheffield Shield appearance.

Stoinis was overlooked for Test series against Sri Lanka starting on Thursday but looks comfortable in Australia’s ODI middle order.

Stoinis averaged 28.6 runs against India and took four wickets, including Rohit Sharma (twice) and Shikar Dhawan.

Marcus Stoinis appeals for a wicket against India.

Former selector Mark Waugh has criticised Stoinis’s early strike-rate with the powerful batsmen averaging 6.5 runs after his first 10 balls.

“I definitely understand that, and I’ve heard that all before,” Stoinis said.

“If (my batting partner) gets under pressure it’s probably something I need to get concerned about.

“But everyone is so clear about everyone else’s plans and that’s part of batting as a team.

“Look, as long as I’m making runs and striking at a good strike-rate and taking the game deep, that’s my No.1 goal rather than worrying about my first 10 balls as much.

“It’s something to work on, but it’s not my main focus.”

Stoinis, 29, steered the Stars to a six-wicket win against Melbourne Renegades and they host Adelaide Strikers in Moe on Wednesday.

“We’re going to come storming home,” Stoinis said.

“We’ve got a bloody good team, we play well together and we’ll be hard to stop come finals time.”

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Originally published as Marcus Stoinis hopes a lack of red ball cricket won’t hurt his Ashes charge