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Defending champions Perth Scorchers have suffered a major blow ahead of the upcoming Big Bash League (BBL) as Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh, and England batter Phil Salt both have been ruled out of the entire tournament due to their respective injuries.
Marsh will, in fact, miss three months of cricket after undergoing surgery on his troubled left ankle. Notably, the Western Australian has carried the ankle problem for a while now, and he reinjured it during Australia’s ODI series against Zimbabwe in August, which had ruled him out for over a month. Marsh’s decision to go for surgery will give him a chance to be fit for Australia’s next ODI assignment in India in March next year.
Salt, on the other hand, sustained a grade-two ligament injury on his left shoulder during the third and final ODI against Australia last week in Melbourne. The North Wales cricketer sustained the injury while diving to save a boundary during that game. Salt consulted a shoulder specialist who recommended the cricketer to miss both the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament and the BBL.
“Losing Mitch and Phil so close to the start of the season is very disappointing. Mitch is one of the best ball-strikers in global cricket with an incredible MBBL record, and his leadership and presence around the group is enormous,” said Perth Scorchers General Manager Kade Harvey in a statement.
“Phil has proven his class for England and in T20 tournaments around the world, so it’s unfortunate he won’t pull on the orange this summer. We’re under no illusions about how difficult it will be to cover the absence of Mitch and Phil, but we take pride in the depth of our squad and have a lot of players capable of stepping up,” he added.
Perth Scorchers squad for BBL|12:
Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Cooper Connolly, Faf du Plessis (international – South Africa), Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Peter Hatzoglou, Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis, Matt Kelly, Tymal Mills (international – England), Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner (captain), Andrew Tye, Replacement international – TBC, Replacement local – TBC
