Australia could have as few as eight players available for their T20 World Cup warm-up match against Namibia and may be forced to use support staff as substitute fielders.
"We're going to be undermanned," captain Mitch Marsh told cricket.com.au. "But it is a practice game.
The guys who need to play will play as much as they can and we'll figure it out from there. It's important to be flexible. Guys who have been at the
IPL have been playing a lot of cricket."
Australia captain has declared himself fit and ready to go for the start of his side's ICC Men's T20 World Cup campaign.
The all-rounder injured his hamstring during the early stages of the Indian Premier League and has not played at any level since failing to trouble the scorers at the start of April for the Delhi Capitals against eventual champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
"It's been progressively slow, but I'm finally getting there now and looking forward to getting stuck into the tournament," he said.
Just who joins Marsh in Australia's XI for their warm-up fixture against Namibia in Trinidad on Tuesday remains to be seen, with a host of their stars not arriving in the West Indies until later in the week after they participated in Sunday's Indian Premier League final.
Opener Travis Head and fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Mitch Starc all featured in that IPL title decider and will head home to Australia for some rest prior to joining up with their teammates in the Caribbean, while travelling reserves Jake Fraser-Mc-Gurk and Matt Short are also yet to arrive.
The tight turnaround between the end of the Indian Premier League and their World Cup campaign in the Caribbean has left them short-handed for their two warm-up games against Namibia (on Wednesday morning 9am AEST) and West Indies (Friday) in Trinidad.
The trio who played in last night's final – Travis Head, Pat Cummins and player of the match Mitchell Starc – as well as Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell, will not link up with the World Cup squad until nearer the end of the week in Barbados.
A sixth squad member, Marcus Stoinis, who played for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, is also yet to touch down. He is expected to arrive in Trinidad only after the Namibia practice match.
Australia are banking that their decision to let their IPL stars get at least a couple of nights at home before joining their squad will help them refresh and avoid burning out.
