Australia Without Five Injured Players For New Zealand Test

Australia have been hit by injury problems to five of their players, going into the first Test match against New Zealand on December 1.

The first of the two Tests, which will be played at Brisbane, will see Shaun Marsh, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Patrick Cummins and Ryan Harris out of the game. Roughly, this translates into the side going into the match without two of their top three and all three of their main fast bowlers.

Watson suffered from a hamstring strain in the second Test against South Africa, Marsh has a recurring back ailment, Harris was hit by a pelvis injury, Johnson an injured foot and Cummins, only one match into his career, has a bruised heel.

This will mean that Phil Hughes will have a new opening partner and in all probability, it will be Dave Warner. Usman Khawaja should bat at three in place of Marsh, while the bowling line-up will have Peter Siddle leading it, to go with two other bowlers.

Among those in line for a chance to make it to the playing 11 are Trent Copeland, James Pattinson and Doug Bollinger, with Mitchell Starc and Ben Cutting having an outside chance of making it to the squad.

One of the reasons why the injured players are being kept out is to preserve them for the Test series against India that begins from December 26.