Australia fast bowler Michael Neser has been ruled out of action after sustaining a strain in his right calf muscle while training with the national squad in Brisbane.
Neser was a stand-by bowler for the Bangladesh Tests but the injury “will prevent him from training or playing for several weeks,” according to Cricket Australia. He will now target a return for Australia’s tour of South Africa, which begins in late September.
Australia, meanwhile, received more encouraging news on Josh Inglis, who experienced back spasms during an intra-squad match at Allan Border Field earlier this week. Head coach Andrew McDonald said there was no concern over the wicketkeeper-batter’s availability for the Bangladesh series opener in Darwin.
“He’s had a back flare up. He has had these from time to time. There’ll be no issue, it’ll just be letting it settle down and then getting him back into work,” McDonald said. “We’ve got enough time. We’ll probably be conservative on that, make sure that’s right before you see him return into the nets and the preparation phase…there is no concern around whether he would be available or not.”
McDonald said Australia’s preparations had been carefully managed over the past month, with players travelling between Brisbane and their home states before coming together for match simulations this week.
“We’ve had two decent hit-outs, 60 overs a day, everyone’s been able to meet the demands,” he said. “We’ve been able to create a connection from training, build up that intensity with the match simulation, it almost took on the shape of a fully-fledged game, which was nice.
“It’s a group that’s keen to get back into it and we’ve got a couple more days on Thursday and Friday to finish off that preparation. The guys have been doing a lot of work coming back and forth to Brisbane,” added McDonald.
The two-match Test series against Bangladesh begins on August 13 in Darwin. The second Test will be played in Mackay from August 22.
