In a significant development coming from the Australia camp, the hosts have suffered a major blow ahead of their crucial ODI series against South Africa. Matthew Short, Mitchell Owen and Lance Morris have been ruled out of the remainder of the series against South Africa with their respective injuries. Mitchell Owen has been sidelined due to a concussion injury, while Short and Morris will miss the series with a side injury and back soreness. Also Read: 3 Teams That Could Target Sanju Samson in IPL 2026 Trade After CSK Pulls Out Mitchell Owen suffered a concussion after getting hit by the South African pacer Kagiso Rabada on the grill of his helmet during the second T20I outing in Darwin. The all-rounder earlier passed the concussion assessment, but soon started showing delayed symptoms after being dismissed. As per Cricket Australia’s concussion protocols, Owen will go under a mandatory 12-day stand-down period, which means that he will be unable to take part in the ODI series. Meanwhile, Lance Morris, who was eyeing his ODI return, has been sidelined with back soreness and has returned to Perth for further assessment. Matthew Short is still struggling with his side injury sustained during the West Indies tour. Cricket Australia has added left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann and all-rounder Aaron Hardie to the ODI squad as replacements. The ODI series is set to get underway on August 19. Both Kuhnemann and Hardie are part of the ongoing T20I series. The ODI series will also see the return of Marnus Labuschagne and Xavier Barlett after a significant gap. While Marnus is returning to the ODI setup after playing his last match against India in the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final and Xavier Barlett will be making his comeback after a year. His last appearance came against the West Indies last year. The ongoing T20I have gotten heated up with South Africa bouncing back to seal the second match and level the three-match series 1-1. The third and final match will be played on August 16. Australia Updated ODI Squad Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Adam Zampa