FILE PHOTO: Cricket - Third T20 International - England v Australia - Rose Bowl, Southampton, Britain - September 8, 2020 Australia's Kane Richardson reacts Dan Mullan/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo X80003
Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s BBL13 campaigns appears to be over while Joe Clarke will undergo scans on Tuesday to determine his ongoing availability, plus there was an injury update on Kane Richardson.
SQUAD NEWS
The Melbourne Stars named an unchanged 14-man squad for Tuesday’s Melbourne Derby at the MCG against the Melbourne Renegades, with the weather remaining slightly unpredictable, with 0-9mm rain forecast at the time of writing on Monday evening.
Stars squad: Maxwell (c), Cartwright, Couch, Harper, Imad Wasim, Larkin, Lawrence, Merlo, Paris, Rocchiccioli, Rogers, Steketee, Stoinis, Webster
The Renegades named a 16-man squad with some significant changes, with Mujeeb Ur Rahman dropping out and potentially unavailable for the remainder of BBL|13 while Joe Clarke is out with a quad injury and will undergo scans on Tuesday which “will provide more clarity around Clarke’s availability for the rest of BBL|13”. English batsman Jordan Cox comes into the squad.
There is also doubt on Kane Richardson’s availability, with the Gades stating: “Richardson, who was a late out with injury against the Strikers, trained fully with the squad on Monday and will be considered for selection.”
Mujeeb’s absence comes after a dispute with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) about his participation in the ongoing T20I series against UAE. The ACB had threatened to revoke the spinner’s No-Objection Clearance to play in T20 leagues from January 1 2024 following the dispute and that appears to have been followed through on after no resolution to his situation.
The Gades said: “Mujeeb Ur Rahman has also been removed from the squad after a change to his No-Objection Certificate (NOC) conditions made him unavailable for the match.” Honeyball understands Mujeeb remains in Australia and the Gades are hopeful of a resolution, enabling him to play again this season, but that remains to be seen.
Renegades squad: Cox, de Kock, Dixon, Finch, Fraser-McGurk, Harvey, Kellapotha, Maddinson (c), S.Marsh, O’Neill, Richardson, Rogers, Siddle, Sutherland, Wells, Zampa
UPDATES
Honeyball understands the squad for next week’s CA XI tour match against the West Indies will be selected later this week. The four-day game runs from January 10-13 in Adelaide and may impact BBL availability, given the attraction of rare red ball cricket with the search on for David Warner’s successor as Test opener. Selection may impact BBL availability during Rounds 7-8-9.
Adelaide Strikers coach Jason Gillespie explained the absence of David Payne from their New Year’s Day game after taking a 3fa previously. He told FoxCricket: “With David Payne we knew coming into the tournament, he did have off-season surgery and he’s been building back up. He’s built up really nicely but hasn’t quite nailed it. We just thought we neded to try something different particularly in the power play with the ball. Dave has been good but we just felt we needed to try something different.”
Gillespie also discussed the decision to drop Jake Weatherald. He said: “Weathers just hasn’t quite fired. He’s battled a little bit, just felt we needed to make a change there.”
Melbourne Stars coach Peter Moores talked about their batting line-up change with Dan Lawrence opening and Sam Harper demoted to the middle order. Moores told FoxCricket: “Dan is a top 3 player we felt. Thought he could put some pressure on.
“Sammy Harper is very flexible, he could come into the middle order and play a role there. It felt like the best fit for the team.”
