The Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers squads for Wednesday’s potentially rain affected game at the MCG were revealed, while there were injury updates on Glenn Maxwell and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
SQUAD NEWS
The Melbourne Stars named a 15-man squad to face the Perth Scorchers at the MCG on Wednesday, with numerous changes, headlined by Haris Rauf returning along with Mark Steketee and Beau Webster after PM’s XI duty.
Nick Larkin and Campbell Kellaway are also in, with Glenn Maxwell (forearm), Nathan Coulter-Nile (calf), Joe Burns (illness) and Olly Stone (import quota) dropping out.
Stars squad: Stoinis (c), Cartwright, Couch, Dawson, Harper, Kellaway, Larkin, Merlo, Mir, Paris, Rauf, Rocchiccioli, Rogers, Steketee, Webster
Stars stand-in captain Marcus Stoinis offered an update on Glenn Maxwell ($118k BAT/BWL) after his forearm injury. He said: “I think it’s going to be a week, maybe maximum two. That’s a blessing with this schedule that it might only be one game he’s missing.”
On Coulter-Nile, the Stars said: “Nathan Coulter-Nile suffered a calf strain against the Heat and is aiming for a return towards the end of BBL|13.”
The Scorchers named an unchanged 13-man squad with Ashton Agar ($105k BAT/BWL) absent again, managed by CA due to a calf injury.
Scorchers squad: Turner (c), Behrendorff, Connolly, Eskinazi, Evans, Hardie, Hobson, Inglis, Kelly, McKenzie, Richardson, Tye, Whiteman
Zak Crawley remains unavailable, having flown back to England after their ODI series in the West Indies but he’ll travel to Perth later this week ahead of Round 2.
With all that in mind, the Bureau of Meteorology forecast for Melbourne doesn’t look good on Wednesday night.
UPDATES
Hobart Hurricanes speedster Riley Meredith was set for scans after exiting Monday’s game with a side injury mid-over.
Canes coach Jeff Vaughan told 7Cricket on Monday: “He’ll be done for tonight’s game. We’ll get a scan tomorrow and learn a little bit more. That’s all we know at this stage.”
Brisbane Heat pair Matt Renshaw and Josh Brown spent most of their fielding innings on the bench in Tuesday’s game against the Thunder, with apparent hamstring and foot issues respectively.
Heat stand-in captain Colin Munro told FoxCricket: “No idea. Browny got that yorker than hit in the foot and that blew up a little bit. Just precautionary, I think, with those two.”
The Heat later provided an update and wrote: “Medical staff will tomorrow review batsmen Matthew Renshaw, who sustained a minor hamstring strain while batting, and Josh Brown who was hit on the foot while batting.”
