Mitch Marsh left in limbo by missing scans

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Scans on Australian all-rounder Mitch Marsh’s injured ankle have gone missing in the UAE, leaving his recovery in limbo.

The 28-year-old, who played a key role in Australia’s recent white-ball series against England, injured his ankle when his spikes got caught in the wicket as he attempted to field a ball playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last week.

Marsh has since been ruled out of the rest of the IPL due to the injury and managed to board a flight from Dubai back to his hometown Perth where he’s currently in mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Marsh in the dark

However, Marsh is none the wiser about the extent of the injury, which he believed may be syndesmosis, as the scans he underwent in Dubai haven’t been passed on to him or Cricket Australia.

To further complicate matters, it’s unclear if he’ll get State clearance to leave quarantine in Perth to undergo scans again.

“We don’t really know what happened with the scans over in the UAE,” Marsh told reporters on Tuesday morning in a Zoom press conference.

“Cricket Australia haven’t been able to get their hands on them so it’s bit of a weird situation.

“Cricket Australia got a report but they weren’t able to get their eyes on the scans which made it tougher for them to make decisions around what it actually is. 

“Hopefully I’ll go for another scan at some point this week, if I can get clearance, and then we’ll be a lot clearer on what we’re dealing with.”

Marsh’s value to the Australian side was on show during the England series where he made a crucial 73 and took the wicket of centurion Sam Billings in the first ODI, while he was named Player of the Match in the third T20I.

The WA skipper has had an “almost career” to date, sitting on the fringes of the Australian team in all formats, without every solidifying his grip on a regular spot, with frequent injuries hampering any consistency.

Injury derails allrounders career again

Given his recent form, that’s made the latest injury blow for Marsh harder to accept.

“This one is obviously really frustrating and a little bit unlucky,” he said. “I’ve tried to dive for a ball like that a thousand times in my career. It’s one of those frustrating injuries. 

“I’ve been through a few now so I think I know how to deal with it. I moaned and groaned for about 48 hours in the UAE. 

“(Before that) It was nice to contribute to a few wins for Australia again. I went over there in a really good headspace. 

“Six months at home working on my game and I was just in a really good place in my life. 

“It’s always disappointing to not be playing cricket now. That’s the way it goes sometimes. I was really looking forward to playing in the IPL, having not played there for a few years but it obviously it wasn’t meant to be this year.”

Marsh remains hopeful the injury won’t require surgery and he may return in time for the third or fourth round of Sheffield Shield games for WA in late October or early November.

By Ben Somerford 29/9/2020

Mitch Marsh

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