{"id":22254,"date":"2021-01-14T00:44:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T01:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=22254"},"modified":"2021-01-14T05:01:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T05:01:23","slug":"pucovski-loses-fitness-battle-for-fourth-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=22254","title":{"rendered":"Pucovski loses fitness battle for fourth Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Batting prodigy Will Pucovski's shocking run of bad luck has continued with the opening batsman out of the Gabba Test after succumbing to a shoulder injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pucovski picked up the injury fielding in the third Test and was unable to recover in time to take his place in the line-up for the fourth and deciding Test against India, starting tomorrow.<\/p>\n

The news was confirmed by captain Tim Paine<\/a> at today's press conference.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Will Pucovski won't play tomorrow. He's tried to train this morning and didn't quite come up," Paine said. "He'll have a bit of work to do with our medicos from here."<\/p>\n

Pucovski's absence will ensure the third new opening combination in three Tests, with Marcus Harris returning to the side for the first time since being dropped following the 2019 Ashes series.<\/p>\n

Harris will resume his place at the top of the order, batting alongside David Warner, who is playing below full fitness after suffering a groin tear in November's ODI series against India.<\/p>\n

After missing the first two Tests of the series, Warner was rushed back into the side for the SCG Test<\/a> after Joe Burns (dropped) and Matthew Wade (returned to the middle order) failed to fire as a makeshift opening pairing in Adelaide and Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Harris and Warner last batted together in the 2019 Ashes series, with both players enduring a torrid time against top class bowling from England stars Stuart Broad and James Anderson.<\/p>\n

While Warner retained his place due to his outstanding record and enduring reputation as one of Australia's top two Test batsmen, Harris was replaced in the side by Burns.<\/p>\n

The Victorian will be hoping to make a better fist of his return to the side than Burns did, with just one chance to prove that he's got more to give at Test level as the replacement for his more gifted state teammate Pucovski.<\/p>\n

\"Marcus<\/p>\n

"Marcus Harris will come in, we're looking forward to seeing what he can do," Paine said.<\/p>\n

"Harry is a no fuss player. He's been working his backside off. He's had huge numbers at Sheffield Shield cricket (this season).<\/p>\n

"We're looking forward to him going about his stuff. He's a really relaxed character."\n<\/p>\n

\nHarris in for Pucovski was the only change to the Australian line-up following the disappointment of the drawn Test in Sydney after an extraordinary fifth day's batting effort from India.<\/p>\n

Former Test star Michael Kasprowicz yesterday predicted reserve pace bowler Michael Neser would be given his debut<\/a> as a replacement for one of the three quicks who were unable to get the job done on Monday.<\/p>\n

However, that was not the case, with the Australian selectors sticking with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, as well as spinner Nathan Lyon, who will play his 100th Test.<\/p>\n

Australia XI:<\/strong> David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (wk, c), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Batting prodigy Will Pucovski's shocking run of bad luck has continued with the opening batsman out of the Gabba Test after succumbing to a shoulder […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22256,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22254\/revisions\/22256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}