Australia skipper Aaron Finch said on Thursday that Travis Head will miss the last ODI game against Sri Lanka and his absence was a “bit more of a precaution” while he further added that he doubted Smith would be available either.
Australia left-hand batter Travis Head will not be part of the playing XI in the final One Day International against Sri Lanka while Steve Smith can also miss the game, captain Aaron Finch said Thursday on the eve of the dead-rubber match. Head hurt his hamstring on Tuesday when Sri Lanka took a secure 3-1 lead in the five-match series in Colombo, adding to a considerable rundown of wounds for the visitors.
Smith missed the game with a quad issue and Australia was without the services of Marcus Stoinis, Kane Richardson, Mitchell Starc, and Ashton Agar.
“There is a lot of them,”
Finch said, adding that he was “not sure” if Head, who scored a useful 70 not out in the third ODI on Sunday, would be fit for the two-match Test series beginning on July 29 in Galle.
“Especially where he fields in the outfield, he does quite a lot of kilometers and the ground is quite heavy,”
Finch said, adding that Head’s absence was a “bit more of a precaution.”
Finch added he doubted Smith would be available either.
“But that could change. I mean he’ll be doing training this afternoon. We will go down there and have a look at the conditions and everything. But from what I understand, he won’t be available for tomorrow,”
Finch said.
Finch further said that Starc was “still not right” with his finger, which he cut on the spike of his boot in the first ODI.
“Where it is, the stitching and things like that (are) just not quite 100-percent healed. Without being able to bowl with tape on, he will be out for tomorrow as well,”
Finch said.
Finch condemn the “disappointing” series defeat on Australia’s inability to build partnerships but said the games were still good preparations for the Tests.
“Any time we’ve started to get any momentum in the game, we lose a wicket and in these conditions, once you lose one, they go back-to-back pretty quick,”
Finch said.
Finch said that the standard “isn’t the same when you play domestic competitions” and international bilateral series were still “important to the game”.
Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood on Friday applauds the players for their “very satisfying” first bilateral series win against Australia since 2010.
“Most satisfying for me was the progress of a team as we’ve made through this journey so far, just to see the tactics coming together, to see guys out in the middle scoring runs, to see how we’ve chased totals down,”
Silverwood told reporters.
“And to me, one of the most exciting things is but we’re still nowhere near the potential that we have in that team… If the guys keep learning and keep progressing the way they are, then we will be… in a very strong position to challenge anywhere in the world.”