Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the T20 World Cup on Friday after failing to recover from hamstring and Achilles injuries in another setback for Australia.
The 35-year-old missed the entire Ashes series against England and has not played cricket since November.
Earlier this week, Cricket Australia said he would miss the early stages of the tournament with Sean Abbott as cover.
But on Friday they admitted Hazlewood “ran out of time” to be fit for the event that starts in India and Sri Lanka on Saturday.
“We hoped that Josh would be fit again by the Super Eight stage,” said selector Tony Dodemaide.
“But the latest indication is that he is still some time away and that accelerating his program carries too many risks.
“We will not immediately appoint a replacement player. We believe we are well covered for the first matches, so we will make any subsequent decisions based on the priority at the time.”
Australia head into the World Cup in disarray after being beaten 3-0 by Pakistan in a warm-up series and winless in their past five T20 internationals.
Pace spearhead and Test captain Pat Cummins had already been ruled out of the entire tournament as he slowly recovers from a lower back injury, with Ben Dwarshuis replacing him.
Australia’s matches in Group B will all be played in Sri Lanka.
They start against Ireland in Colombo on February 11 and will also face co-hosts Sri Lanka, Oman and Zimbabwe.
