Now Henriques flies back home; McDonald and Cockley to join squad (Lead)

All-rounder Moises Henriques Wednesday joined the Australian cricket team's ever-growing list of the injured players and was ruled out of the ongoing one-day series against India with a hamstring injury.

Cricket Australia's (CA) National Selection Panel (NSP) confirmed that Victorian all-rounder Andrew McDonald and New South Wales fast bowler Burt Cockley will join the Australian squad for the sixth ODI in Guwahati as replacement for Henriques and Peter Siddle who returned home to Australia early Wednesday morning with stiffness in his left side.

Henriques joined the squad as a replacement for James Hopes but picked up the injury during Australia's win in Mohali Monday. With Henriques out, Australia are left with only 13 fit players to choose from.

CA physio therapist Kevin Sims said: "Moises complained of some discomfort after the fourth ODI in Mohali. He had an MRI scan when we arrived in Hyderabad, which showed signs of injury to the right hamstring."

Fast bowlers Peter Siddle and Brett Lee, wicketkeeper Tim Paine and Hopes have already flown back home with injuries and now Henriques' injury has frustrated Australian captain Ricky Ponting.

"It's disappointing to see these guys go down because you know how much they want to play and be a part of the series, and do the best they can to win games," Ponting said.

"I am sure everyone who has returned back home would much rather be here with the series as it is at the moment, but we've got what we've got."

Ponting said that if Australia manages to win the series with a depleted squad, then it would be one of the most "amazing" performances for the team in recent years.

"If you consider everything that has happened to us over the last couple of weeks, it would be an amazing effort if this group of players were good enough to get over the line," Ponting said.

"But with five or six guys -- probably more than that -- out of our starting line-ups, we're going along nicely. Certainly for me, every game I play with these guys I want to be able to win, but sometimes that means pushing guys a little bit too hard and some of these injuries come along," he added.

Selection panel chairman Andrew Hilditch said: "Andrew played very well for Victoria in the recent Champions League in India, was in very good form in the first Sheffield Shield game. Burt is someone who the NSP has identified in the last 12 months as someone who could have an impact at international level. He performed well in the recent Ford Ranger Cup game against Western Australia and we think he will be well suited to Indian conditions. This is a great opportunity for a young Australian fast bowler to have an impact at the international level."

Australia landed in India without one-day regulars Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Callum Ferguson and Nathan Bracken. The four players were suffering from different injuries.

abr/vt

( 507 Words)

2009-11-04-18:29:05 (IANS)

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