Injuries continue to blight Australia even before their ICC T20 World Cup 2026 campaign has even began. In a fresh setback, team captain Mitchell Marsh was ruled out of their tournament opener against Ireland to be played in Colombo today. Marsh suffered an injury groin area and will not take field against Ireland.
According to Cricket Australia, Marsh picked the injury in the groin area while receiving sidearm throw downs during their training session last Sunday. With Marsh unavailable, Travis Head led Australia out against Ireland for the toss.
Steve Smith is being rushed to Sri Lanka as a possible replacement for Marsh in the squad as there is uncertainty over how long it will take for the all-rounder to recover. Smith was left out of the Australian squad and he has not played a T20I since February 2024. He, however, had a good season in the Big Bash League where he scored 299 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 167.97 and average of 59.8 for Sydney Sixers.
In the build up to the tournament, Australia's bowling duo of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were also forced out of the squad due to injuries.
Cummins couldn't recover in time from a recurring back injury and was replaced by left-arm pacer Ben Dwarshuis. Hazlewood was troubled by a hamstring strain. Cricket Australia did not announce a replacement for Hazlewood and went into the World Cup with a trimmed squad.
Australia's playing XI vs Ireland: Travis Head (captain), Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Matt Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Cooper Connolly, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Matthew Kuhnemann.
Australia's T20 World Cup 2026 squad as of Feb. 11: Tim David, Travis Head, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Marsh, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Xavier Bartlett, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann and Adam Zampa.
Australia's next game is against Zimbabwe in Colombo on Friday.
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