Cricket World Cup: Australia's Mitchell Marsh returns home for personal reasons ahead of England clash

Australia have lost a second all-rounder ahead of Saturday's Cricket World Cup clash against England, with Mitchell Marsh returning home for personal reasons.

Precise details of Marsh's circumstances are unclear, but he flew out of Ahmedabad on Wednesday and is not guaranteed to return before the end of the tournament.

Australia are already without Glenn Maxwell, who took a tumble off the back of a golf cart during a day off and sustained a concussion.

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"Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has returned home from the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 late last night for personal reasons," a statement from Cricket Australia read.

"A timeline on his return to the squad is to be confirmed. No further detail will be offered at this time."

The double blow robs Australia of batting firepower and bowling options and is likely to lead to a reshuffle of the side, with Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne moving up a spot in the order.

Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green are set to step into the starting XI, but with Marsh and Maxwell both striking centuries in the tournament, Australia look weaker in their absence.

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Marsh, who has played in 85 ODIs for Australia, cracked an impressive 121 off 108 balls in his team's 62-run win over Pakistan.

The 32-year-old's withdrawal on the back of Maxwell suffering a concussion leaves Australia down to 13 available players going into the match against England.

Seam-bowling all-rounder Sean Abbott and wicketkeeper Alex Carey are the other two members of the squad, with spinner Tanveer Sangha a travelling reserve.

Any replacement call-up would need approval from the World Cup's Event Technical Committee.

Stoinis, however, revealed he had been in touch with Marsh, who was confident about returning to play his part in a successful campaign.

"He sent me a message last night saying, 'I'll be home for a little bit and then I'm coming back to win this World Cup' so that speaks to his mindset I think," Stoinis said.

"You miss him off the field - in terms of his energy and his personality around the team as much as we're going to miss him on the field - but you can pretty much see how the team's going to line up [without him].

"I joked with him that he just passes the overs back to me now - and 'thanks for that'. You know that the bases are covered. We will miss him, and he'll be back soon."

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