Mitch Marsh planning return to Cricket World Cup as family detail comes to light

Mitch Marsh has told teammates he'll be back to help Australia win the Cricket World Cup despite flying home from India on Thursday amid the death of his grandfather Ross. Cricket Australia announced the all-rounder was heading home to Perth for 'personal reasons' and would miss Saturday's clash with England.

No timetable was put on a potential return, with Cricket Australia saying Marsh would be out 'indefinitely'. That sparked fears that the West Australian would miss the remainder of the World Cup, but he moved to allay those fears later on Thursday.

'PRIVATELY CONCERNED': New twist emerges in ugly Ashes incident

'SOMETHING TO TELL ME': Nathan Lyon's revelation about wife

He told reporters on his arrival in Perth that he was planning on heading back to India before the end of the tournament, before being picked up by wife Greta and brother Shaun. It later came to light that Marsh had returned home to be with family, before his grandfather died on Friday.

Teammate Marcus Stoinis later told the media that Marsh was attending to a family matter, but he'd told the team he'll be back. "Mitch has flown home late last night, he's got a family issue going on, and family's the most important (thing) really," Stoinis told reporters in Ahmedabad. "He's doing the right thing, and he's getting home, and he's seeing the people he needs to see.

"I don't think there's a timeline on when he's coming back, but I'm sure he'll do what he needs to do at home, and then get back. And he sent a message last night saying, 'I'll be home for a little bit, and then I'm coming back to win this World Cup'. So that speaks to his mindset.

"You miss him off the field – in terms of his energy and his personality around the team as much as we're going to miss him on the field – but you can pretty much see how the team’s going to line-up (without him). I joked with him that he just passes the overs back to me now – and ‘thanks for that’. You know that the bases are covered, but we will miss him, and he'll be back soon."

Aussies without Mitch Marsh and Glenn Maxwell at World Cup

The news about Marsh came less than 24 hours after it emerged that Glenn Maxwell had suffered a concussion after falling off the back of a golf cart. Maxwell will also miss the game against England, with Stoinis and Cameron Green the likely players to replace Maxwell and Marsh.

Stoinis said of the Maxwell incident: "Yeah, it's unfortunate. It was one of those things, unfortunately happened with boys being boys to an extent.

"I didn't see him fall off the cart or anything like that, so I can't really talk about that part, but I saw him yesterday, he's in good spirits, he's in Glenn Maxwell spirits. Can't speak too much in terms of medical side, but I think he's back, I'd hope he's back very soon."

Stoinis backed Green to make the most of his opportunity, with the all-rounder struggling for form in limited-overs cricket in recent months. "It's just about learning what helps you get through those sorts of times where it's long periods away from home," he said.

"It's a big year. It's exciting for him in that he would have been dreaming about big years like this and doing all these tours, being in the IPL and a Test tour of India and an Ashes series. It's just part of being a cricketer now.

"To an extent it's the quote 'be careful what you wish for' sort of thing and then you go through it and it is a lot. But that's a great thing for him and he'll learn from that. But he's actually going really well. He had a long (training) session yesterday as well. As long as you feel you're learning and getting better, as a cricketer it's easier to be on the road."

Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.