Melbourne [Australia], December 29 (ANI): Australia speedster Mitchell Starc admitted that he might be out for the first two Tests against India, which begin in February, while Pat Cummins has declared injured allrounder Cameron Green “nearly irreplaceable” as Australia face a rare injury crisis as they attempt to qualify for the World Test Championship final.
Australia won the three-match Test series against South Africa 2-0 with one match remaining thanks to a thumping innings victory at the MCG, but it came at a high price. With finger injuries, both Starc and Green have been ruled out of the third Test in Sydney.
Green returned to Perth on Thursday while the game was still in progress to recover from a broken index finger. There is no timetable for his recovery, but he is expected to be ready for the India tour. Starc, on the other hand, has a detached tendon in the top of his middle finger on his bowling hand, which occurred when he attempted to catch a ball on the first day of the game.
“I’m getting another scan in Sydney and seeing a finger specialist to work through all that,” ESPNcircinfo quoted Starc as saying after Australia wrapped up victory in Melbourne inside four days.
Green returned to Perth on Thursday while the game was still in progress to recover from a broken index finger. There is no timetable for his recovery, but he is expected to be ready for the India tour. Starc, on the other hand, has a detached tendon in the top of his middle finger on his bowling hand, which occurred when he attempted to catch a ball on the first day of the game.
The Australia tour of India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will kickstart in Nagpur on February 9 next year. Team India will then play the next three Test matches in Delhi, Dharamsala & Ahmedabad. This will also be the last edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which will be a 4-match Test series feature.
The home series will then conclude with a three-match ODI series against Australia that will be held in Mumbai, Vizag & Chennai. The first match of the series will be hosted by Mumbai on March 17 while the second and third will be held on 19 and 22 in Vizag and Chennai respectively.
“Obviously India is coming up, so we’ll see what the timeframes are after I’ve had those discussions next week. Hopefully [my return] fits in somewhere at the front end of the tour. Apart from the finger being out of action, I can still train to some degree and bowl in creative ways to keep up my workload up whilst the finger not being impacted. So that side of it is going to be fine. It’s just where the timeframe of the tendon comes into it for the India tour. From the scans the other day the tendon’s basically gone from the top of the finger so I can’t straighten it,” he further added.
Coming to the match, David Warner, Cameron Green and Nathan Lyon were the stars for Australia, helping their side crush a helpless South Africa side by an innings and 182 runs in the second Test of the three-match series at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday.
With this, Australia have won the series 2-0. It is their first series win against Proteas at home since 2005/06. (ANI)