Side strain rules Mitchell Starc out of the Hobart game against England
After losing Shaun Marsh, Australia A has been forced to make another replacement in their squad against England, as fast bowler Mitchell Starc picks up a side strain.
Left arm pacer, Clint McKay has been included in the squad for the Hobart game, the final tour game of England ahead of the opening Ashes encounter at the Gabba in Brisbane.
Starc and McKay jointly had a starring role in Australia's One Day win over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in the last game of the five-match ODI series in Brisbane earlier this month as Australia only just avoided a humiliating 3-0 whitewash. But the
recent side strain has ruled the twenty year old left arm pacer out for the next four weeks.
Earlier Shaun Marsh, who injured his lower back during the ODI series against Sri Lankan, was forced to withdraw as he failed to recover from the injury in time and Tasmanian opening batsman Ed Cowan was called up as his replacement.
Ryan Harris, who has recently recovered from a knee surgery, was the likely replacement for Starc but the 31-year old developed swelling after giving a clinical performance of 9 for 140 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tasmania-c854 in last weekend's Sheffield
Shield clash.
Andrew Hildreth, the chairman of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 selectors said that injury of Starc provides McKay a good opportunity to press his claims ahead of the crucial Ashes series against England starting on the 25th of this month in
Brisbane.
"It's obviously very disappointing for Mitch, who had been bowling well, as we saw in the last Commonwealth Bank Series match against Sri Lanka", said Hildreth. "However, Mitchell's departure from the squad provides Clint with another
opportunity to press his claims. He also bowled well in the third match of the Commonwealth Bank Series against Sri Lanka recently and has been a regular member around Australia's limited overs squads for some time now and know he will be looking forward to
this challenge against England", added the chief selector.
McKay has played only one Test and 15 One Day Internationals. His solitary five-day appearance was against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 at Perth in December 2009, where he picked up one wicket in Australia's narrow win.
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