Australia call up Marcus Stoinis for Canberra Test

Marcus Stoinis has been added to the Australia squad for the second and final Test against Sri Lanka, starting at Manuka Oval in Canberra on February 1. Stoinis has played 24 ODIs and 17 T20Is for Australia, but is yet to make his Test debut.

Stoinis' call-up is a further hammer blow to fellow allrounder Mitchell Marsh, and a former vice-captain of the Test team, who was recalled for the Melbourne Test against India and then dropped straight afterwards and then dumped from the squad for the Sri Lanka series.

Australia went 1-0 up in the series following a win in the day-night first Test in Brisbane, completing victory by an innings and 40 runs on Saturday's third day. Pat Cummins played the lead with a match haul of 10 for 62 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 144 and 139 in their two innings.

For the second Test - the first to be held at Manuka Oval - Stoinis' inclusion as an all-round option is an indication the Australia selectors are uncertain about the conditions they will encounter and the potential for them to required a more demanding workload on the attack than the Gabba.

"We made the decision to add Marcus to give us the flexibility to play an allrounder in the event the conditions require an extra bowling option in the line-up," national selector Trevor Hohns said.

Stoinis has been in excellent form, especially with the bat, for Australia in ODI cricket and for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League, where he has hit half-centuries in their last two games. In the first part of the Sheffield Shield season for Western Australia he scored 298 runs at 42.57 and took 10 wickets at 25.20.

"Marcus has been a consistent performer this season, he has displayed strong all-round form in first-class cricket and continued that form into the Australian ODI series against India," Hohns said.

Meanwhile, Matt Renshaw, the opening batsman, has been released from the squad and will be available for Brisbane Heat's upcoming BBL fixtures, starting with the game against the Stars on Sunday.

Squad for second Test: Tim Paine (capt & wk), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Kurtis Patterson, Will Pucovski, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle