'Down in the dumps': Stoinis' World Cup fear

A regular in Australia’s ODI team for nearly two years, Marcus Stoinis feared his World Cup dream was over when he injured himself against India almost two weeks ago.

But having got through his return match unscathed, the allrounder now looks set play a pivotal role in Australia’s push for a sixth World Cup title.

Stoinis showed no signs of a recent side injury against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge on Thursday, bowling eight overs and taking the key wicket of Shakib Al Hasan in Australia's 48-run victory.

He'll now be fit to face England on Tuesday and play out the rest of the tournament, a prognosis that appeared unlikely when Mitch Marsh was rushed to England early as cover.

"My initial thought when I did it in the second over was 'oh no, I'm out of the World Cup'," Stoinis said, who courageously bowled five more overs through the pain of that side injury in Australia’s loss to India on June 9.

"Your mind goes there.

"The last couple of weeks have been so exciting and a bit of a roller coaster. I was a bit down in the dumps after I hurt myself.

"But I think once everything sort of settled, you knew it was going to be alright."

On the first night after the injury, he woke up every two hours to ice his side and only began bowling again earlier this week having missed Australia’s matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

He says while he was never given an official prognosis from medical staff, he knew the Bangladesh game was make or break for his Cup campaign.

"We didn’t put a time on it … the support staff did a really good job with that and not overreacting," he said. “They at least gave me a chance.

"But I think going into this game, this was the deadline."

Still able to bat and run during his 10 days away from the bowling crease, Stoinis spent the time working on his batting and having regular hits with assistant coach Ricky Ponting.

"If I could have one person in the world, if I could have picked them when I was young to be coaching me in my batting, it would have been Ricky Ponting," Stoinis said.

"He is an absolute legend, he's got a lot of knowledge about the game. So we have just been speaking about where he thinks I can go to the next level with my batting and that sort of thing.

"It's more just an open discussion, raising points, problem solving as we go and coming up with different ideas."

2019 World Cup

Australia's squad: Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

June 1: Australia beat Afghanistan by seven wickets

June 6: Australia beat West Indies by 15 runs

June 9: Australia lost to India by 36 runs

June 12: Australia beat Pakistan by 41 runs

June 15: Australia beat Sri Lanka by 87 runs

June 20: Australia beat Bangladesh by 48 runs

June 25: England v Australia, Lord's

June 29: New Zealand v Australia, Lord's (D/N)

July 6: Australia v South Africa, Old Trafford (D/N)

July 9: Semi-Final 1, Old Trafford

July 11: Semi-Final 2, Edgbaston

July 14: Final, Lord's

Sync Australia's World Cup schedule to your calendar HERE

For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click HERE