Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh has suffered a hamstring injury that rules him out of Perth Scorchers' Champions League T20 campaign. Marsh had originally picked the injury during Australia A's tour of South Africa in July-August, and aggravated it during a session with Scorchers.
"He hurt it on the Australia A tour but he got through, he kept playing," Scorchers coach Justin Langer was quoted as saying by Australian newspapers. "When he got back we were doing a running session and it just went.
"I knew straightaway [that it is serious], it was that sort of coach's nightmare when you see it. He has had all the tests and it shows that it's probably a reasonably long lay-off... it won't require surgery but it's probably an eight to 10 week injury."
Marsh will be replaced by Western Australia allrounder Hilton Cartwright, who made his debut for Scorchers in the Big Bash League last season and played three games.*
Marsh has previously had trouble with his hamstrings. He had to retire during a Ryobi Cup match last November due to a similar injury. He has also had discipline problems plaguing him over the last year. In July 2012 he was sent home from Australia's Centre of Excellence after being "unfit to train" after a night out. In October, during the previous edition of the Champions League, after another night out he was forced to sit out by Scorchers.
He was recalled to the Australian squad for the Champions Trophy in June, and then travelled with the A team to South Africa for a full tour. This injury, unless the healing process is smooth and very quick, is likely to rule him out of Australia's limited-overs tour of India that runs from October 10 to November 2.
