Matt Short has been named in the Adelaide Strikers’ squad to play the Melbourne Renegades on Thursday evening despite a broken toe that kept him out of their New Year’s Eve game.
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Short was in Adelaide’s 14-player squad, with the club providing an update: “Short missed the Strikers’ New Year’s Eve clash with the Scorchers with a broken toe, but will be given every chance to face the Renegades, with the final team to be named at the bat flip.”
Speaking on FoxCricket’s coverage during the game against Perth on New Year’s Eve, Short said: “It’s all up in the air still. We were pushing to play this game.
“We tried a couple of things and couldn’t get a jab over the line to numb it and get rid of the pain. Hopefully only this game. We’ll see after the new year.”
The Renegades named an unchanged 14-player squad for the game at Marvel Stadium too.
Renegades squad: Sutherland (c), Bethell, Brown, Evans, F-McGurk, Harvey, O’Neill, Richardson, Rogers, Sandhu, Seifert, Stow, Wells, Zampa
Strikers squad: M.Short (c), Bazley, Boyce, Doggett, Haskett, Lynn, Overton, L.Pope, O.Pope, Ross, Scott, D.Short, Thornton, Weatherald
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Scorchers all-rounder Ashton Agar only bowled 1 over in the New Year’s Eve game due to back spasms.
Perth teammate Jhye Richardson said post-game: “I probably wouldn’t say it’s an injury. I would expect him to be back next game. It was a bit of an unfortunate spasm at the wrong time. I think he’ll be fine.”
Richardson also heaped praise on Finn Allen on FoxCricket in a sign of the New Zealand opener’s job security despite his early season struggles.
He said: “Finn obviously has battled pretty hard over the last few weeks. With our internationals and knowing how good he is, he can change a game like that. We saw a bit of that tonight.
“We’re going to back Finn in to be honest. We know in the back end of this competition, gathering momentum and winning games is really important. I feel he can take the game away from the opposition really quickly. Hopefully some runs tonight puts him in the right direction.”
Hobart Hurricanes captain Nathan Ellis missed their New Year’s Day game due to illness, but teammate Nikhil Chaudhary was bullish he’d return for their next game on Sunday.
Chaudhary said: “It was a huge loss for us but at the same time he was texting us (saying) ‘doesn’t matter if I’m playing or not’… We’re looking forward to getting him back in the team.”
Hurricanes coach Jeff Vaughan added on Ellis: “He’s had a rough 24 hours. Sleepless night last night. Battled hard, he’s a warrior. We gave him right up to the last hour, just not up for it.”
