Australia's preparations disturbed; top batsman sidelined due to illness

Australia’s preparations for their opening ODI game against the Englishmen have been disturbed by rain. A washed out training session and David Warner’s illness hampered the team’s preparations ahead of the series opener on Sunday. The Aussies vice-captain missed out the session due to a stomach bug.

The team arrived in Melbourne on Thursday but Friday’s session was washed out completely. With an excellent all-round performance in the Ashes, the home team would be positive ahead of the ODIs. However, Australia’s ODI form hasn’t been so great in the last 18 months.

David Warner fell ill

Vice Captain David Warner fell ill just after reaching Melbourne along with the team. The explosive batsman preferred to stay back at the hotel during the training session. However, the session was washed out. The team might have a longer training session on Saturday with no outdoor sessions on Friday.

David Warner is expected to be fine to play the first ODI. The medical team is confident on Warner’s fitness. On the other hand, according to reports, Josh Hazlewood might be rested. Andrew Tye is likely to replace Hazlewood. However, his Western Australian counterpart will also fight for the place in the playing eleven.

Talking about the team’s preparations, Marcus Stonis said there were no concerns. “The T20 boys trained yesterday. It was only half of us but we got a good hit-out. We’ll have a good hit-out tomorrow. We train all year, every day, thinking about cricket and that sort of thing so hopefully missing a training session here and there isn’t a big deal,” the Aussie all-rounder said.

White to play the first ODI?

Stonis was left out of the team for the Champions Trophy but regained his spot with a decent performance in India. However, with veteran middle-order batsman, Cameron White back in the team, Stonis will have to compete with Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head for the two remaining vacancies in the playing eleven.

“He is one of the smartest players in Australian cricket, if not international cricket. I remember six years ago preseason, every morning he’d send me a message saying ‘What are we doing this morning? Why are we doing it? What are you looking to get out of it? So it’s no wonder why he’s so good and I’m stoked for him to have the chance to get back into the Aussie colours,” a delighted Stonis said to Cricket.com.au, talking about White’s comeback.