In a big blow for Australia, batsman Usman Khawaja has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2019 ICC World Cup following his injury in Saturday’s loss against South Africa.

The southpaw picked up a hamstring strain in the 10-run loss at Manchester and has now been confirmed to miss the rest of the tournament.

The defending champions had earlier named wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade as cover for the injured Khawaja and will now seek the approval of ICC’s event technical committee to permanently replace the player.

“Ussie’s got a hamstring strain so he’ll be out for probably three to four weeks which is a real shame but we have to work hard on getting him up for the Ashes now,” Australia head coach Justin Langer stated on Monday.

“Such a pity for him he’s been so intergral to how we’ve been playing. Like Shaun (Marsh) I feel sad for him that he’s going to miss the World Cup semi-final.”

While Khawaja has now been ruled out, the Aussies are still sweating on the fitness of all-rounder Marcus Stoinis ahead of their semi-final against hosts England at Edgbaston.

Stoinis had injured himself in the clash against South Africa as well with all-rounder Mitchell Marsh named as his cover. The five-time champions are hoping to take a call on Stoinis’ fitness in the coming two days.

“And Marcus is the same, got another strain in his other side actually so we are working through that at the moment and we’ll have to make a decision on him in the next 24 to 48 hours,” said Langer.

“Not in the final XI yet but Matthew Wade is coming up. He’s in great form, he’s had a great 12 or so months back home but he’s also just scored two hundreds in one-day cricket so he’s in great nick.

“And Mitch Marsh is going to come on standby for Stoinis to see how he comes up.”

The semi-final meeting before Australia and England at Edgbaston is due to take place on Thursday.