Mitchell Marsh set to miss white-ball leg of Pakistan tour

Cameron Green will be his replacement for the opening ODI on Tuesday in Lahore

The T20 World Cup hero’s likely absence will challenge an inexperienced Australia’s depth with a number of key players unavailable after a gruelling triumph in the recently concluded historic Test series, the first played between the teams in Pakistan since 1998.

“He’s injured his hip-flexor, we think, at training. We are going to have to wait and see what that looks like but I don’t think he’ll be available for the series based on how he was feeling yesterday,” Finch told reporters on Monday.

“He sustained that in a fielding drill, it was a high intensity, lateral movement drill and he bent down to pick it up one-handed and went to throw and felt a twinge.”

Green, who has played just one ODI on his fledgling career, is set to take his Western Australia team-mate’s place on the back of an encouraging Test series where he averaged 51.67 batting at No. 6 and took three wickets with his probing seam bowling.

“Cam will play and probably bat in that middle-order role,” Finch said. “We’ve seen he’s a super talented cricketer. He’s someone who has been quite consistent in his Test career, his impact with the bat and ball can’t be understated. Really excited for Cam to get that opportunity.”

Even though they are undermanned, Finch said it was a welcome opportunity for Australia to test their depth with an eye towards next year’s ODI World Cup in India. It’s been a barren run for Australia, who last played an ODI in July 2021 against West Indies and they have only played four since December 2020.

“It’s about trying to build the depth of the squad and build experience in players,” he said. “It’s a really good opportunity. With every decision we make there is one eye towards the 50-over World Cup and to tie everything back to that is really important.”

Having memorably claimed the Test series, Australia are hoping to complete a momentous tour with success in the white-ball leg which involves three ODIs and a one-off T20I to be played entirely in Lahore.

“Our goal 100% is to win this series,” Finch said. “We still feel like we have a squad to do that even though it is inexperienced at times that can be a blessing because you have guys who can play freely and express themselves.”