Australia v Pakistan: selection and injury news ahead of the ODI series
Two more Australians who toured Pakistan have tested positive to Covid-19 as video emerges of two ODI players at a team bonding snooker session who later contracted the virus.
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Two members of the touring Test squad are the latest Australian cricketers to test positive to coronavirus.
The news comes as both Josh Inglis and then Ashton Agar were forced into quarantine after contracting Covid-19 in Pakistan.
The Covid tally in the camp reaches five, with physio Brendan Wilson also in lockdown amid growing concerns about the ODI tour continuing if the virus continues to spread at this rate.
Video released by the team showed a masked Inglis mingling with ODI players at a photo shoot by the swimming pool at the team hotel.
Agar, who tested positive on the eve of the match, was in the group without a mask.
Victorian Marcus Harris, who did not play a Test, is one of the two players who has tested positive on returning home from Pakistan.
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The issue could affect the tour with players uncomfortable with proceeding should the virus compromise the integrity of the team.
At this point that has not happened.
Inglis faces another four days quarantine, while the pair diagnosed Tuesday will have to isolate for five.
The team is on edge, waking up each morning anxious to see who will go down next.
Matthew Renshaw is on his way to Pakistan but must serve three days isolation.
Mitch Marsh has been ruled out of the first game with a hip flexor injury, but there is no guarantee when he will be fit.
Inglis is an exciting prospect and played in all of Australia’s T20 matches against Sri Lanka in February, but is yet to make his ODI debut. Agar was unlikely to have played in the first match.
The news has sent a scare through the outfit which has been ordered to stay away from common areas in their biosecure bubble at the team hotel. They have been advised to avoid the gym and eat in their rooms.
The all-rounder tore a hip abductor at training on Sunday and selectors had planned for him to open the batting with captain Aaron Finch.
Travis Head, who has opened before, will get the chance to join the skipper at the top of the order.
Kane Richardson, who was part of the squad, was withdrawn because of injury and Mitchell Swepson replaced Steve Smith last week.
Smith, who is understood to have gone to New York for a break, has suffered a flare up of an ongoing elbow injury.
Pat Cummins flew to the UK where he was reunited with his wife and child, while David Warner flew back to see his wife and three children in Sydney along with Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.
All three would normally be part of the white ball series.
Glenn Maxwell is absent because he is celebrating his wedding with three ceremonies. which began Monday and are stretched over a week.
The all-rounder tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend, Vini Raman, an Indian-Australian pharmacist, at a Winery in Victoria’s Yarra Valley in Australia on Friday.
Smith is not playing the IPL but Hazlewood, Cummins and Warner are all signed to various franchises but have to see out a cooling-off period which ends when the limited overs series is completed on April 6.
Finch said that Smith would be missed but the injury was an indication of the amount of batting he does.
“It was unfortunate that with his elbow, it just keeps flaring up,” Finch said.
“That’s a reflection of a guy who’s got everything that he can out of himself over the last couple of years and has batted so much that it’s probably an injury that just needs to be monitored over and over.
“In terms of his role within the side, I think that we saw a really flexible role that he’s played over the last couple of years when he’s played T20 cricket, he’s batted at three and done a really good job.
“He’s batted in the middle and done a really good job as well and got us some really important runs. So, I’m confident that we know what we’re going to get every day that he turns up.”
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