Australian batsman Shaun Marsh has been ruled out of the ongoing 2019 Cricket World Cup after suffering a fracture to his forearm during the net session on Thursday.
Peter Handscomb has been confirmed as a replacement for Marsh in Australia cricket team for the remainder of the tournament, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said.
“Shaun Marsh has had scans on his right forearm after being struck while practising in the nets at training today,” said Australia head coach Justin Langer. “Unfortunately, the scans have revealed Shaun has suffered a fracture to his forearm which will require surgery.”
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“This is obviously shattering news for Shaun and the squad. Throughout this tournament, his spirit, professionalism and the way he has competed has been typically outstanding,” he added.
All-rounder Glenn Maxwell was also struck on the right forearm by a Mitchell Starc delivery during the net session, but escaped serious injury, the Australian Coach said.
“The scans have cleared Glenn of any serious damage and we’ll continue to monitor him over the coming days. We are hopeful he will be fit to perform for us on Saturday against South Africa,” Langer said.
“We have made the decision to call up Peter Handscomb to replace Shaun in our World Cup Squad of fifteen,” he added. “Pete is a like for like player, in terms of batting in the middle order, and he performed very well for us during our recent tours in India and the UAE.”
The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before he could be officially added to the squad.
The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 consists of Geoff Allardice, the chairman of ICC and ETC, ICC representative Campbell Jamieson, CWC representative Steve Elworthy, host representative Alan Fordham, and independent representatives Harsha Bhogle and Kumar Sangakkara.
(With ANI inputs)