Get the latest news with selection hints on Prime Minister’s XI line-up which will ravage Round 1 of SuperCoach BBL plus updates on Aaron Hardie, Paul Walter, Matt Kelly, Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson.
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INTERNATIONAL CLASHES
Selecting your SC BBL starting squads has just got a lot harder, with the impending Prime Minister’s XI tour match against Pakistan awkwardly timed from December 6-9 in Canberra, coinciding with the BBL|13 season opener on December 7.
It had been hoped the PM’s XI would be mostly made up of fringe state players rather than BBL guns, but CA Chair of selector George Bailey threw a spanner in the mix this week when he spoke about selection. Bailey said: “We are looking forward to meeting with the Prime Minister and I’m sure those selected will be excited for the challenge of facing the quality of Pakistan.
“As the Australian Men’s Test team continues to evolve in the short to medium term, the timing of the match comes at an important stage of the summer with five home Tests and two away in New Zealand.
“We’ve seen some strong individual performances to start the Sheffield Shield season and with another round left before the squad will be selected, we are looking forward to seeing players continue to put their hands up for selection.
“Opportunities to face international opposition like this are rare and taken seriously, and as such we are looking to select a strong and highly talented squad.”
Prime Minister, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP will meet with CA Chair of Selectors, George Bailey and selector, Tony Dodemaide to discuss selection of the squad. Mr Albanese said: “In the coming weeks, I will meet with the National Selectors to discuss what I suspect will be a strong PM’s XI.”
If strong Shield form is a factor for consideration that cannot be good for the BBL availability of the likes of Michael Neser, Matt Renshaw, Nathan McSweeney and Mitch Swepson who all have Round 1 triples with the Brisbane Heat. For now, selection is all speculation.
Let’s hope selectors lean to in-form non-SC relevant players like Charlie Wakim, Joe Burns, Peter Handscomb, Henry Hunt, Chris Tremain and Corey Rocchiccioli among others.
INJURY NEWS
Scorchers all-rounder Aaron Hardie ($178k BAT/BWL) missed last week’s Shield and Marsh Cup games against NSW with a minor quad injury but WA Cricket confirmed on Tuesday he’ll return in the Shield against SA starting Wednesday.
The WA Cricket release said: “Hardie was named in the 12-player squad after sitting out recent matches versus New South Wales with a low-grade quad injury sustained against the Redbacks last month.”
Scorchers captain Ashton Turner ($105k BAT) will miss the SA Shield game “to manage soreness in his right knee”.
WA/Scorchers bowling coach Tim Macdonald offered more updates on their bowling brigade on 91.3 Sport FM, firstly on Matt Kelly’s ($146k BWL) calf injury. He said: “Unfortunately he nicked his calf on his return to play and there was a bit of tendon involved in that.
“Matt has started bowling again. He had his third bowl yesterday. He’ll bowl another couple of times this week. Getting him back up to Shield loads will be the difficult thing. I’m pretty sure we’ll be looking to get him ripe and ready for the Big Bash.”
Lance Morris ($157k BWL) has been in and out of the side following an off-season back stress issue. Macdonald said: “With that play-rest protocol, he’s getting to that stage where he can get back-to-back games into him. We’ll get there by hopefully the Test summer and the Big Bash summer for Lance.”
Macdonald also offered a positive update on Jhye Richardson’s ($247k BWL) BBL availability after hamstring and shoulder issue. He said: “He was really close to playing this Shield game. Unfortunately he wasn’t quite at the workload that CA wanted. He’s got a part to play, they feel, for them in the second half of the summer especially.
“He’ll hopefully play the one-day game for us here next week, then the Shield game in Brisbane and then have a full Big Bash which seems like a really good prep for what CA want out of him for the rest of the summer.”
Sixers veteran Steve O’Keefe ($178k BWL) swapped NSW Premier Cricket clubs in the off-season, moving from Manly-Warringah to his junior club Hawkesbury, but he hasn’t been in action lately due to a finger injury. It remains to be seen if that’ll impact his BBL availability.
Another Sixers spinner Todd Murphy will miss Victoria’s upcoming Shield game due to shoulder soreness, while fast bowler Mitch Perry – who has been linked with the Sixers – has recovered from an ankle problem to be named in that Vic Shield squad.
Veteran Renegades recruit Peter Siddle has been rested again and Strikers all-rounder Matt Short is headed for India for the upcoming T20I series, so will miss that Vic game.
LATEST NEWS
Heat import Paul Walter ($105k BAT/BWL) has already arrived in Australia with a month until BBL begins and he crunched some bombs with a blistering century for Deepdene Bears Cricket Club in Melbourne’s Eastern Cricket Association. Walter opened the batting and scored 154 from 107 balls.
The standard is questionable but Deepdene is a club that Walter played for in his first visit to Australia in 2017. He’s one to monitor in the lead-up to BBL|13, given Brisbane have a Round 1 triple and he definitely won’t be in the PM’s XI.
Injury-prone potential Hurricanes cash generator Billy Stanlake ($62k BWL) spoke about his body after playing his fifth Marsh Cup game this season. Stanlake said: “The body has been good. The more you play, the better is gets. Hopefully I have a good season and get plenty of cricket in… the BBL is only a month away but I don’t like to look too far ahead.”
UPDATES
New Heat signing Jack Wood ($62k BAT/BWL) magically earned DPP status overnight. When Wood debuted a few years ago, he was primarily a spinner but nowadays he’s a batting all-rounder having advanced his run-making ability at club level. Good update SC team.
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