Mitchell Marsh suffers testicular injury after being hit in nets, Steve Smith put on standby for Australia

Mitch Marsh suffered testicular bleeding after he was hit on the box by a “wanger” throwdown from Australian assistant coach Matthew Wade on Sunday, leading to Steve Smith’s summons to join the Twenty20 World Cup squad in Colombo.

Marsh suffered what was initially thought to be a fairly typical blow to the groin during a net session in the days leading up to the first cup game against Ireland.

But when his discomfort lingered longer than the usual period in which teammates often struggle to hide their mirth, scans showed the consequences.

That was enough to get Smith booked on a plane from Adelaide, where he took part in Wednesday’s LIV Golf pro-am at Grange alongside the likes of Cameron Smith and Elvis Smylie, to join the team on standby in Sri Lanka.

“He’s been a little bit sore over the last few days, so poor bugger, you don’t envy a man in that position,” Nathan Ellis said of Marsh.

“We sort of got an inkling probably yesterday and it sort of played out today, so never a great scenario for the team when you lose a captain, but also for the person who goes to bed last night thinking they’re not playing and then has to come in.

“But in terms of disruption with the team, we’ve got the easiest, most easy-going group in the world. Travis Head stepped in as captain and his heart rate probably doesn’t get above 25 at the best of times. So yeah, thankfully, obviously, we all want Mitchie there, and we love Mitchie leading us. But yeah, it wasn’t spoken about too much, and we just tried to hit the ground running.”

Marsh watched the opening game against Ireland from the team’s viewing area, and is expected to be fit at some stage to resume in the tournament.