Happy headache for Australia as Stoinis proves fitness in style

It was said in jest, and with every intention that it was within the earshot of its recipient. Marcus Stoinis had just gone past Marnus Labuschagne’s bat for the umpteenth time in a matter of 15 or so minutes. And as he walked back to his mark, he wondered out aloud to Andrew McDonald and Daniel Vettori whether they should start getting ‘worried’ about Marnus at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

To his credit, and probably in his defence, Stoinis had bowled a nearly unplayable mini-spell to Australia’s No.4, one where he’d seemingly trapped Labuschagne in front on one occasion by beating him on the inside-edge of the bat. He’d also then beaten the outside-edge and tickled the outside part of the right-hander’s off-stump. It was a rather newish-looking Kookaburra, which Stoinis surmised to be around 5-overs old. And on this the humid October evening in Chennai, helped with an intermittently refreshing gust of wind, the muscular seamer was getting the ball to obey his commands.

Much to Labuschagne’s chagrin over his own struggles with coping with this highly challenging ordeal. There was a 5-ball period in the midst of this burst from Stoinis where the ball and bat seemed so out of sync that you might have temporarily forgotten who he was bowling to. Surely this wasn’t the most technically sound batter in the Australian camp being shown up in such vulgar fashion. Not surprisingly, the Western Australian was enjoying his spell, even ensuring that his rather generous biceps were released from under the sleeves to soak in his dominance with ball in hand.

Soon enough, Stoinis was done, having beaten Labuschagne’s outside-edge one final time, before putting his cap on, facing backwards of course, and walking away.

The ‘worry’ in the lead-up to this 40-minute Stoinis stint with the ball late in the evening on Thursday (October 5) ironically was more around him and if he’d be able to bowl at all. Coach McDonald had revealed earlier in the day about how Stoinis had had a “hamstring complaint” and that he was “touch and go” for the opening World Cup game against India. And Stoinis had shown up in the nets area well after a number of the others had finished their batting or bowling stints.

His initial interactions were purely with team physio Nick Jones, as part of what looked like an impromptu fitness test. Jones had Stoinis running in from around half the length of his regular run-up to kick things off while bowling at nothing but a set of stumps in the far net. He then slowly had the seamer push further and further back with every second delivery before being finally satisfied that Stoinis was ready to run in at full tilt. It’s just around the time Labuschagne had finished facing some of the local Tamil Nadu spinners and set himself up for some seam-ups. What followed was the lengthy and unrelenting interrogation, which Stoinis finished on top.

Stoinis didn’t play any part in the two warm-up games and though he was spotted taking some high catches as Australia began their training session three days out from the big opener, it was unclear whether we’d see him bowl or bat.

And around half hour or so after he was done bowling, Stoinis returned to the net in his batting gear and commenced a hit at approximately 8.22 pm. It started off with him facing a left-arm wrist spinner, who bowled to all the Aussies, and a leg-spinner with an interestingly whirly bowling action. After a few power hits off them, he asked to face assistant coach Michael Di Venuto with his trusted sidearm exclusively for the following 20 minutes, before a final drill which involved Daniel Vettori tossing up his left-arm throwdowns to him, and getting the statuesque right-hander to attempt the sweep shot ball after ball, with what looked like an attempt to test out of his hamstring further.

Though Stoinis did miss a handful of attempts, the good news from an Australian perspective was that he didn’t seem to be in any discomfort while getting back up to his vertical base after each sweep shot, Much like with his bowling spell, Stoinis ended up staying in the net for longer than anyone had expected, and was the last to leave at around 9.09 pm, nearly 47 minutes after he first took strike.

With Labuschagne having been confirmed as a lock-in for the top four by McDonald, the only big question you’d think from a selection point of view for Australia is which of the two big all-rounders, Stoinis or Cameron Green, gets a go in the middle order. And Green too had a significant stint with bat and ball on Thursday evening. While two days still remain before Pat Cummins walks out to toss and officially commence Australia’s campaign at this World Cup, the selectors have enough reason to believe that their final call on the seaming all-rounder will come down to who they think is better suited purely with Stoinis having proved his fitness in fine style. For good measure, he received some well-deserved pats on the back with one of the coaches yelling out, “Good sesh Stoin” at him.

Another senior player returning from injury, Glenn Maxwell, meanwhile, was the first Aussie to enter the nets for a hit and he did so long before any of the rest even arrived on the scene. Maxwell is still being eased back into the side after having injured his ankle. He had spoken about feeling a 100 per cent following the second warm-up game against Pakistan in Hyderabad but was asked by the team management to focus purely on his batting on Thursday and keep away from the fielding drills to give his ankle a longer break. He will be seen instead taking catches and chasing down balls during Australia’s afternoon session on Friday (October 6). And he will play an integral role in Australia’s attempt to win a sixth title in what is his third appearance in a 50-over World Cup. And his big mate, Stoinis, looks likely to join him from the very start.