Mitch Marsh and Phil Salt ruled out of Perth Scorchers' BBL title defence

Marsh will be missing for three months after undergoing ankle surgery, while Salt is sidelined with shoulder ligament damage suffered during the Australia ODI series

Perth Scorchers will be without Mitch Marsh and Phil Salt for their Big Bash League campaign, in a major blow to their title defence.

Marsh has undergone keyhole surgery on a long-term left ankle injury that is set to leave him sidelined for three months.

Meanwhile, Salt, a silver selection during the inaugural BBL player draft, is sidelined with a left shoulder injury suffered while fielding for England during the third one-day international against Australia.

The former Adelaide Strikers player, who was also concussed during the incident, sustained a grade two ligament injury and after taking advice from a specialist will take no part in the 12th edition of the tournament or the Abu Dhabi T10.

^{Marsh aggravated the ankle issue during the Zimbabwe ODIs (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)}

Scorchers, who have already been forced to replace Laurie Evans with Faf Du Plessis for the first half of the campaign, are exploring options to replace the duo.

But it is the news of Marsh's withdrawal that hits Scorchers the hardest. The batting allrounder has been part of three victorious BBL campaigns with Scorchers, including last season's success clinched following victory over Sydney Sixers.

"Losing Mitch and Phil so close to the start of the season is very disappointing," said Scorchers general manager Kade Harvey.

Salt's winter has been derailed by a shoulder problem (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

"Mitch is one of the best ball-strikers in global cricket with an incredible MBBL record, and his leadership and presence around the group is enormous.

"Phil has proven his class for England and in T20 tournaments around the world, so it's unfortunate he won’t pull on the orange this summer.

"We're under no illusions about how difficult it will be to cover the absence of Mitch and Phil, but we take pride in the depth of our squad and have a lot of players capable of stepping up.

"The whole organisation remains as motivated as ever to win a fifth MBBL championship."

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