Starc cleared to face Sri Lanka after nets blow

Fast bowler Mitchell Starc has been cleared to play in Australia's T20 World Cup clash against Sri Lanka tonight, but coach Justin Langer conceded the team "were worried" after the quick was struck at training this week.

Starc was hit just above the right knee while bowling during a net session in Dubai on Tuesday evening, and appeared to be in obvious discomfort.

The left-armer trained and bowled yesterday with a compression sleeve on his right leg, a positive sign that the injury was not a serious one.

Image Id: C1CE001B4F3F4C5A9E567A124F25C089 Image Caption: Starc at training on Wednesday // Getty

Langer gave the all-clear onThursday evening for Starc to take his place against the Lankans for the match that starts at 1am AEDT Friday (Fox Crickety and Kayo).

"He'll be playing, don't worry about that. We had a couple of nervous moments; in the nets Mitch Marsh smacked one back at him and hit him straight in the right knee," Langer told Fox Cricket.

"We were really worried about it, but he is that tough. He is an elite athlete and he's bloody tough. He came out, trained yesterday and he'll be up and running.

"He loves playing against Sri Lanka and we love having him in the team so we're really thrilled about that."

Langer confirmed the team would again look to go "batter-heavy" with the line-up against Sri Lanka, meaning there is unlikely to be a reprieve for Ashton Agar, who sat out the first match against South Africa.

"What we're seeing is low-scoring games, so at this stage we'll look to go a bit batter heavy rather than bowler heavy," Langer said.

"It worked the other night, it seems to be the trend amongst most of the teams so that's how we'll look to match up for this game as well."

Vision from Tuesday's training session showed the left-armer on his haunches in one of the nets before he got to his feet, hobbled a few paces and then eased himself down to the turf again.

He eventually removed both his shoes and hobbled to the rooms.

Image Id: A0BCE0A478AE4B73A35476D5A5D3B742 Image Caption: Starc was hit on the leg on Tuesday night // Fox Sports News

Australia picked a pace-heavy bowling attack for their first-up win against South Africa and South Australia's Kane Richardson is the only spare fast bowler in their 15-man squad.

However, spinners Ashton Agar or Mitchell Swepson could come into the side if conditions suit.

"The IPL has given us a pretty good template of what we can expect in the World Cup, we know the Powerplay is important – that's why we decided to go with the extra quick (against South Africa)," Langer said.

"We hit them hard, and we'll try and do that against Sri Lanka as well and set the game up in the Powerplay overs.

Image Id: 45DD652534274BAD9F663F0B50DABAAB Image Caption: Starc at training in Dubai on Wednesday // Getty

Langer lauded the impact of fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who was immense in the game against the Proteas and has emerged as Australia's in-form quick in the T20 format.

"He was almost our first picked because of the form he's brought in from the IPL," Langer said.

"And it maybe changed our thinking a bit of not going with the two spinners, as traditionally you'd do in this part of the world.

"It worked out well (against South Africa) and let's hope it keeps working that way throughout the tournament."

Fast bowling pair Daniel Sams and Nathan Ellis are also with the squad as reserves, but they can only be brought into the official 15-man squad and be eligible to play if a player is ruled out of the tournament due to the injury.

2021 Men's T20 World Cup

Australia's squad

Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams

Australia's matches

Oct 23:Australia beat South Africa by five wickets

Oct 28v Sri Lanka in Dubai (6pm local time, 1am Oct 29 AEDT)

Oct 30v England in Dubai (6pm local time, 1am Oct 31 AEDT)

Nov 4v Bangladesh in Dubai (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

Nov 6v West Indies in Abu Dhabi (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

All matches live and exclusive on Fox Cricket, available on Kayo Sports.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2021 ICC T20 WORLD CUP SCHEDULE

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SQUADS FOR ALL 16 TEAMS

Super 12 stage

Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Scotland, Namibia