Neser injury puts spotlight on limited preparation for fast bowlers
A side strain suffered by seamer Michael Neser, which looks set to rule him out of the tour to Pakistan, has highlighted the “challenging” preparation of Australia’s fast bowlers for the three-Test series.
Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc will have only 12 days and no warm-up game from the end of the five-match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka in Melbourne on Sunday, to the start of the first Test in Rawalpindi next month.
Michael Neser bowling in the second Ashes Test in Adelaide in December.Credit:Getty
Neser suffered the strain during warm-ups before Queensland’s Marsh One-Day Cup match against NSW at the Gabba on Monday afternoon. He lasted just one ball before leaving the field and was sent for scans on Tuesday.
If and when Neser is officially ruled out, he would likely be replaced by fellow Queensland seamer Mark Steketee, who is one of four standby players named for the tour. The second standby fast bowler, Sean Abbott from NSW, is also recovering from a side strain.
Scott Boland, the other fast-bowling member of the touring squad to Pakistan, has been playing Sheffield Shield cricket along with Neser and Steketee.
Side strains are the bane of a fast bowler’s existence because they take so long to heal, as Hazlewood discovered this summer. He felt a niggle during the first Ashes Test and missed the remainder of the series.
However, Australia’s interim coach, and bowling mentor, Andrew McDonald believes his thoroughbred pacemen will manage the short turnaround before the Test series.
“That’s one of the great challenges without match practice but with the experience that we’ve got in Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins, they’re very well versed in shifting formats,” McDonald said.
“We saw that on the back of the T20 World Cup leading into the Ashes, when we didn’t need any match practice to get them up and running.”
Since the Ashes finished in Hobart last month, Australia had played just two T20 matches going into Tuesday night’s third game in Canberra.
“While we’re playing white-ball cricket, there is always a consideration to what it looks like in terms of their loads to get them up for Test cricket,” McDonald said.
“We add those into their training programs, it’s all done by design, and we feel as though those guys in particular don’t need matches to get up to speed because of where they’re at in their careers.
“We’re planning this from a long way out and ‘Starcy’ and Paddy Cummins have a bit of a residual hangover from the Ashes so they’re not going to lose that loading.
“Hoff [Hazlewood] coming off a side strain is a little bit different but he’s been building up for the last four or five weeks. He was close to playing the back end of the Ashes and he’s been bowling right through.
“When a player’s not playing they’re not actually resting, they’re still working in the training environment. They’re in the gym, they’re doing their high-speed running and also their bowling.”
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