Perth Scorchers all-rounder Aaron Hardie’s early BBL availability is up in the air due to a quad issue following on from Australia’s white-ball series against Pakistan.
Hardie hasn’t played since November 18 when Australia beat Pakistan in the final T20I of a three-game series.
The all-rounder played all three T20Is and all three ODIs in that series but has been put in a cotton wool since.
The 25-year-old is nursing a quad complaint and his recovery is being managed with heavy consultation from Cricket Australia, complicating his availability for the Scorchers. He had a quad issue during Australia’s white-ball tour of the UK earlier this year too.
The Scorchers play the BBL|14 season opener against the Melbourne Stars on Sunday 15 December.
Hardie wasn’t named in WA’s Sheffield Shield squad to take on NSW starting Friday in Sydney.
Scorchers quick Jhye Richardson was “managed” out of that game, following a shoulder issue in the last clash with SA. That’s not unexpected given his recent injury concerns.
Scorchers GM of high performance Kade Harvey also offered some insights into the recoveries of several players, leading with Ashton Turner who suffered a rib injury on the weekend in club cricket.
“It was a bit of a strange one,” Harvey told The West. “We are working to a gameplan of him being available game one.
“There is a little bit of water to go under the bridge, but we are certainly hopeful, as with a couple of our players that the first game is probably going to be a little bit tight.
“We should have a few more hands on deck by game two, just with those six days in between, we feel like we will get back to what our team might look like. We’re hopeful that Ash will be there game one.”
Harvey was eluding to the likes of fast bowler Matt Kelly (quad), all-rounders Ashton Agar (AC joint) and Cooper Connolly (finger), noting the latter is the most likely to be available for game one.
