Published: Sep 21, 2014, 12:38 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 21, 2014, 04:05 PM (IST)
Sep 21, 2014
Australian suffered a major blow on Sunday when their star all-rounder Shane Watson was ruled out of the UAE tour against Pakistan nursing a calf injury. Pacer Ben Hilfenhaus has been named as Watson’s replacement in the Test squad while Kane Richardson will replace the all-rounder in the limited overs squad.
“Whilst Shane has made steady progress with his rehabilitation after he stepped on a ball and sprained his ankle, he has suffered a setback, experiencing some right calf soreness. As Shane has previously had similar calf injuries, we plan to hold back his return to running and bowling for approximately 7-10 days. The unfortunate timing of this calf injury will mean that his preparation for the UAE tour will be considerably affected and he would have been unavailable for the T20 and ODI part of the tour and significantly limit his bowling preparation for the Test matches,” Cricket Australia Physiotherapist, Alex Kountouris was quoted as saying on the official website.
“I’m naturally disappointed because I was desperate to play against Pakistan which is our opportunity to get back to number one in Test and one-day international cricket Despite my strong desire to be on the tour, I understand why the selectors have made this decision. Given I can’t be with the boys, my goal now is to work as hard as I can to get back to 100 per cent fitness so that I can make myself available for selection ahead of our series against South Africa in November,” Watson said.
Complete coverage of Australia tour of UAE 2014 here
