David Warner has been ruled out of the Sydney Thunder’s clash with the Hobart hurricanes on Tuesday after suffering a side injury playing with his kids.
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The Thunder confirmed their 14-player squad for Tuesday’s game with an update on Warner from general manager Trent Copeland.
Copeland said: “It’s obviously not ideal to not have Davey but we’d rather be careful earlier in the tournament. I’m confident he’ll be right for our biggest game of the year, the Sydney Smash on Saturday.”
The Thunder have added batsman Charlie Anderson to their squad as a local replacement player. Copeland said: “Charlie Anderson is one of the brightest young talents in the whole country, as we’ve seen with Australia A and NSW in recent times.”
The Hurricanes named their 14-man squad with no surprises, with Jackson Bird among those to miss, along with Test pair Jake Weatherald and Beau Webster.
Discussing Hobart’s likely side, Hurricanes captain Nathan Ellis gave little away on their top order line-up. He said: “There will be some conversations around different combinations and different team structures in terms of batting, bowling and the all-rounders.”
Ellis was asked about Tim Ward’s prospects of playing and said: “Wardy is someone who has come on in leaps and bounds in the last 18-24 months. He’s gone up another level.
“He’s become a more multi-faceted batter. He’s someone who’s added a lot of batting depth into our squad… we’ve got Mac Wright who missed last season with his ACL as well.
“Wardy is a top-order batter. He’ll come in at some point in the top order. Who knows what the first team will look like, you’ll see tomorrow.”
Hurricanes squad: Rehan, Chaudhary, David, Ellis (c), Rishad, Jordan, McDermott, Meredith, Owen, Prestwidge, Stanlake, Wade, Ward, Wright
Thunder squad: Green (c), Anderson, Bancroft, Billings, Davies, Gilkes, Hadley, Shadab Khan, Konstas, McAndrew, Nikitaras, Sams, Sangha, Topley
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Speaking to cricket.com.au, Ellis discussed Tim David’s likely batting role. He said: “He potentially got pigeonholed early on in his career as a 10-, 15- to 20-ball player. But it’s a testament to how hard he works on his game … the faith that Australia showed in him to bat him a bit higher and it’s reaped the rewards.
“The Hurricanes team is a little bit different to that. I personally don’t think he’ll have a set in stone number this season and we’ll shuffle him up and down.”
Ellis also said Bangladeshi leg-spinner Rishad Hossain was set for a big tournament. He said: “Rishad Hossain is going to announce himself. He’s someone that’s been on our radar for a long time and someone who is not only a great bowler and has done well on the international level, but we think he suits Bellerive Oval really well.”
Brisbane coach Johan Botha talked up the opening prospects of all-rounder Jack Wildermuth. He said: “We’re looking at it as an option. That’s where we want to be flexible; some nights he might do it, other nights he could be handier in the second half of the game. We’re still playing around with that, and it depends on who we get back.
Botha revealed they’re likely to use Matt Renshaw, Hugh Weibgen and Nathan McSweeney’s part-time spin a bit more this season. He said: “Three batters who can bowl a bit of spin – Hugh Weibgen, Nathan McSweeney and Matt Renshaw – so we’re going to have to do things a bit differently.
“They all bat in the top six and they can still help you with an over or two – it just gives us a bit more balance.”
