Brown out of Bangladesh tour with stress injury

Darcie Brown has been ruled out of Australia's tour of Bangladesh after the fast bowler was diagnosed with a foot stress injury.

Brown was due to fly out to Dhaka on Saturday alongside a number of her teammates but will instead remain in Adelaide after scans revealed a stress injury to the navicular bone in her left foot, the front foot in her bowling action.

Fellow express quick Tayla Vlaeminck spent two lengthy periods on the sidelines in recent years due to serious navicular stress injuries and Cricket Australia's medical staff would be desperate to avoid a similar scenario with Brown. 

No timeframe has been placed on Brown's return, with the T20 World Cup in September-October, also in Bangladesh, looming.

Selectors have opted against replacing Brown in Australia's 15-player squad for the tour comprising three ODIs and three T20Is. Instead, Grace Harris will now be with the squad for the entire tour after initially only being named for the T20I leg.

Allrounder Heather Graham, who was on stand-by for the series, is currently unavailable due to an undisclosed medical illness.

Brown's injury means Vlaeminck will likely take on greater responsibility as she returns to the Australian squad for the first time since January 2022.

The right-armer earned a long-awaited recall for the Bangladesh trip after recovering from shoulder surgery.

That latest setback, suffered during Australia A's tour of the United Kingdom last June, followed her back-to-back serious foot injuries.

The Australian squad members who were not involved in the Women’s Premier League – Alana King, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt and Vlaeminck – will fly out to Bangladesh on Saturday.

There they will link up with their teammates who have been playing in the WPL.

Alyssa Healy, Ashleigh Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Grace Harris and Tahlia McGrath have all completed their WPL duties after their teams failed to qualify for the finals.

Annabel Sutherland's arrival into Dhaka will be slightly delayed after the Delhi Capitals qualified for Sunday's final, while the RCB trio of Ellyse Perry, Georgia Wareham and Sophie Molineux may also be late arrivals if their team beats Mumbai Indians in Friday's semi-final.

The first ODI will be played on March 21.

CommBank Tour of Bangladesh

March 21: First ODI, Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka (2:30pm AEDT)

March 24: Second ODI, Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka (2:30pm AEDT)

March 27: Third ODI, Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka (2:30pm AEDT)

March 31: First T20I, Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka (5:00pm AEDT)

April 2: Second T20I, Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka (5:00pm AEDT)

April 4: Third T20I, Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka (5:00pm AEDT)

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath (vc), Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Tayla Vlaeminck