The verdict is out on Jhye Richardson’s hamstring strain, with Lance Morris and David Payne among his potential replacements, while there’s an update on Travis Head and Alex Carey.
TEAM NEWS
The squads for Saturday’s Melbourne Renegades-Hobart Hurricanes have been confirmed. Paddy Dooley ($149k BWL) seemed to cop a shoulder knock in Thursday’s game but has been named.
The Gades have added Marcus Harris ($62k BAT) who has been released from Test duty, along with Fawad Ahmed (BWL) who is a local replacement player for the injured Shaun Marsh (BAT) who has a “low-grade hamstring strain”.
Renegades: Finch (c), Ahmed, Fraser-McGurk, Guptill, Harper, Harris, Harvey, Hosein, Moody, Richardson, Rocchiccioli, Rogers, Sutherland, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Wells
Hurricanes: Asif Ali, Crawley, David, Dooley, Ellis, Faheem Ashraf, Jewell, McDermott, Meredith, Owen, Paris, Parker, Short, Wade (c)
Perth’s squad for Saturday evening’s Scorchers-Brisbane Heat was confirmed late on Friday with the big news that Jhye Richardson ($213k BWL) is out with a hamstring strain. The Heat named their squad on Thursday.
Scorchers coach Adam Voges said: “Jhye had scans last night, it’s on the very minor end of a hamstring strain. (It will be) two or three weeks, we’re certainly hopeful that we’ll see him before the end of the tournament.”
Lance Morris ($62k BWL) was also released from the Test squad as a non-playing player, enabling him to be available for Saturday’s games. Morris flew from Sydney to Perth on Friday.
Voges said: “Lance Morris is on a plane today back home. We’ll welcome him back as well. From a fast bowling perspective, at least we’ve got a couple of options.
“Maybe (he’ll play) tomorrow. We’ll see how he pulls up. He’s done a heap of work preparing for Test match cricket. We’ll see how he pulls up from his plane trip today. There’s every opportunity for him tomorrow. Hopefully we can unleash him. If it’s not tomorrow it’ll certainly be in Brisbane in a couple days after that.”
English fast bowler David Payne ($105k BWL) could also come into the side to replace Richardson, having arrived in Perth last week. Voges said: “He’ll come into consideration. He’ll join the squad officially for this game.
“He arrived just in the new year, he’s settled in really well. He’s had a couple of training sessions with us. Will have another hit-out today. Quality left-arm seamer who can swing the ball, if he gets his opportunity tomorrow I’m sure he’ll do a really good job.”
Hard-hitting Wanneroo batter Chris Sabburg (BAT) also came into the squad as a local replacement player, with spinner Hamish McKenzie ($42k BWL) out with a side strain.
Steve Eskinazi ($105k BAT) looks likely to come into the side to replace the departed Faf du Plessis and likely open the batting. Eskinazi told The West: “Vogesy called me a night or two before the first game and said… ‘we see you taking Faf’s role spot-for-spot… just use this as a bit of a mini pre-season’.”
He added: “I’m buzzing to get out there, I feel as ready as I ever could, I’ve had a fantastic lead-in preparation wise… but there’s nothing quite like getting that first cap and getting out there. I’m really excited.
“I’m hoping with my stroke-play and ability to hit the ball along the ground in the power-play and a bit of my consistency I’m hoping I can help take power-play scores from 1-20 to 1-30. I think that power-play batting is a little bit of a missing puzzle piece for the side and if I can help to nail that I think we’ll be unstoppable.”
One player who definitely will not feature in this game, nor the rest of the BBL, is Cameron Green ($62k BAT/BWL) who confirmed his process to returning to fitness would put him in doubt for the first Test against India in February.
Green told SEN WA: “The rehab is having two weeks of time, then two weeks to start running… Then probably at the four-week mark I’ll try and hold a ball and see how that works.”
Scorchers: Bancroft, Behrendorff, Connolly, Eskinazi, Hardie, Hatzoglou, Hobson, Inglis, Kelly, Lyth, Morris, Payne, Sabburg, Tye, Turner (c)
Heat: Peirson (c), Bartlett, Bazley, Billings, Brown, Bryant, Johnson, Kuhnemann, McSweeney, Munro, Neser, Steketee, Swepson, Whiteley
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Shadab Khan ($172k BAT/BWL) was expected to miss several BBL games on Pakistan ODI duty but he hasn’t been called up due to injury. The Pakistan Cricket Board said: “Was not considered for selection after he suffered a fracture on his right index finger in Australia last week.”
It’s not known if Shadab has left Australia for Pakistan, or if his BBL is over due to the injury yet.
Adelaide Strikers stand-in captain Matt Short said the decision on the availability of Test duo Travis Head ($125k BAT/BWL) and Alex Carey ($121k BAT/WKP) for their Round 9 game on January 10 remains unclear.
Short said: “Obviously it’s up to them. They’ve had a pretty busy summer. With the World Cup beforehand. Hopefully they come back, but if they’re too cooked, they’ve got India (Test series) coming as well so they need to think of that. We’ll see.”
He also spoke about spinners Cameron Boyce ($171k BWL) and Ben Manenti ($72k BWL) replacing Rashid Khan who has exited for the SA-20. Short said: “We’re pretty confident, we’ve got Boyce and Manenti in the sheds waiting to get a gig. We’ve shown in the past we can win games without Rash.”
