Broken finger rules Marsh out of rest of Proteas series

Australian top-order batsman Shaun Marsh has been ruled out of the rest of the three-match series against South Africa due to a broken finger.

Marsh sustained the injury while fielding on the first day of the opening Test, a re-break of the same finger he injured during the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka in August.

"Shaun re-injured his left little finger on day one while fielding. Subsequent x-rays have shown a similar break to the previous one and he will now require surgery to stabilise the bone fragment. At this stage, all going according to plan, we expect Shaun to be available for selection [for the Pakistan Test series]," Cricket Australia physiotherapist David Beakley said of the injury.

Following Marsh's exclusion, Joe Burns and Callum Ferguson have been included in Australia's Test squad for the second Test in Hobart, which begins on Saturday,ESPNcricinfo reported.

Burns, who was dropped during Australia's Test whitewash in Sri Lanka, was declared 'Man of the Match' for his brilliant knock of 170 and 65 against New Zealand in Christchurch in February.

Meanwhile, Ferguson, who is yet to debut in Test cricket, has played 30 ODIs and three T20Is. He, however, has not appeared for Australia since April 2011.

The Australian squad for second Test is follows:

David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (captain), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Callum Ferguson, Peter Nevill (wk), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle, Joe Mennie, Nathan Lyon.