Shaun Marsh
Shaun Marsh (AFP Photo)

Australia batsman Shaun Marsh is sitting out of the first ODI against South Africa in Perth because of an abscess on his buttock.

The news broke ahead of the toss and Marsh will require a minor surgery that ruled him out of the series opener. Darcy Short replaced him in Australia’s Playing XI as they were asked to bat first by South Africa opener Faf du Plessis.

The Australians were off to a terrible start losing their five wickets by 19 overs.

Sunday’s ODI is the first time Australia and South Africa are meeting on the cricket field after the ball-tampering scandal at Newlands earlier this year.

Australia have a new ODI skipper in Aaron Finch who replaced Tim Paine in the role. South Africa are in Australia for three-ODI series and a one-off T20I.

Under Finch, the host are aiming to not only recover from the fallout of the ball-tampering saga but also improve their abysmal ODI record that has seen them lose 16 of their last 18 completed matches.

No further details have been available on Marsh’s extent of injury and whether he’ll be available for the second ODI.

Australia XI for 1st ODI: Travis Head, Aaron Finch, Darcy Short, Chris Lynn, Alex Carry, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood