First Pat Cummins, Then Lance Morris, Now This Player: Australia Hit By Injury Crisis Ahead Of India Series
Australia’s list of injured players has expanded with all-rounder Aaron Hardie being ruled out of the upcoming Australia A tour of India due to a shoulder injury. Hardie will miss both the four-day matches against India A and the subsequent one-day series. His replacement for the one-day matches is yet to be announced. Victoria all-rounder Will Sutherland, who was already named in the one-day squad, will join the Australia A team for the second four-day match scheduled in Lucknow. Neither Hardie nor Sutherland will feature in the first game starting on September 16, but Sutherland will be available for the second match beginning September 23.
Hardie is expected to recover in time for Western Australia’s Sheffield Shield campaign opener against New South Wales on October 4. His future participation in Australia’s white-ball series at home against India remains uncertain, especially after he missed selection for the T20I series against New Zealand earlier this month. Hardie’s injury adds to Australia’s growing injury crisis, which already includes Pat Cummins, Lance Morris, and young fast bowler Callum Vidler. Cummins is recovering from a lumbar bone stress injury while Morris is undergoing back surgery. Additionally, Vidler has been sidelined with a partial stress fracture.
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Will Sutherland’s career so far includes two ODIs, debuting against West Indies last year with 18 runs and two wickets. In first-class cricket, he has scored 1,199 runs from 74 innings at an average of 18.16 with one century and two fifties. With the ball, he has taken 159 wickets at an average of 24.07 and seven five-wicket hauls.
Squads
Australia A’s four-day squad consists of players such as Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Jack Edwards, Aaron Hardie, Campbell Kellaway, Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Oliver Peake, Josh Philippe, Corey Rocchiccioli, Liam Scott, and Henry Thornton. Will Sutherland will participate in the second match only.
The Australia A one-day squad features Cooper Connolly, Harry Dixon, Jack Edwards, Sam Elliott, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Todd Murphy, Tanveer Sangha, Liam Scott, Lachie Shaw, Tom Straker, Will Sutherland, and Henry Thornton.
India A’s four-day squad is led by Shreyas Iyer and includes Abhimanyu Easwaran, Narayan Jagadeesan (wicketkeeper), Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel (vice-captain and wicketkeeper), Devdutt Padikkal, Harsh Dubey, Ayush Badoni, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Khaleel Ahmed, Manav Suthar, Yash Thakur, with KL Rahul and Mohammed Siraj joining for the second match.
Cricket Australia is yet to reveal who will replace Hardie in the one-day series starting September 30. Hardie’s exact return date depends on his rehabilitation progress, but the opening Sheffield Shield game will be a key indicator of his fitness.
