Cliff Notes – Hardie ruled out of Australia A tour with shoulder injury

Allrounder Aaron Hardie has been ruled out of the Australia A tour of India due to a shoulder injury, adding to the list of sidelined pace bowlers.
Victoria’s Will Sutherland will replace Hardie and is set to join the squad in time for the second four-day match in Lucknow.
Hardie’s recovery is hoped to align with the early Sheffield Shield matches, while other players, including Pat Cummins, are also facing injury concerns ahead of the season.

Hardie ruled out of Australia A tour with shoulder injury

Allrounder Aaron Hardie has been ruled out of the Australia A tour of India due to a shoulder injury to add to the list of pace-bowling options to be sidelined.

Hardie will be replaced by Victoria allrounder Will Sutherland, who was already part of the one-day squad for the tour, with Sutherland flying out to India in time for the second four-day game in Lucknow. A replacement for Hardie in the one-day squad will be named at a later date.

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It is hoped that Hardie will be able to recover in time for the early rounds of Sheffield Shield matches – Western Australia’s opening game is against New South Wales at the WACA on October 4.

Hardie featured in the recent T20I and ODI series against West Indies and South Africa but he struggled against the latter and had not been selected for the short New Zealand trip for three T20Is, instead being included in the A squad. Depending on how his recovery tracks he may come into consideration for the white-ball series against India.

Though an allrounder rather than a specialist bowler, Hardie’s injury adds to a growing list of players sidelined heading into the season. Pat Cummins is the most significant with questions marks over whether he will recover from his back injury in time for the Ashes.

Lance Morris, a team-mate of Hardie’s at WA, has been ruled out for 12 months having undergone back surgery while promising quick Callum Vidler has been diagnosed with a stress fracture. Morris had been due to feature in the four-day leg of the A tour and Vidler the one-dayers. Brody Couch had initially been Morris’ replacement but he suffered a side injury during the Top End T20 final with South Australia’s Henry Thornton subsequently called up.

The first four-day game against India A starts on September 16 followed by the second on September 23. The three one-dayers, which will all be in Kanpur, are on September 30, October 3 and 5.

Updated Australia A four-day squad

Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Jack Edwards, Campbell Kellaway, Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Oliver Peake, Josh Philippe, Corey Rocchiccioli, Liam Scott, Will Sutherland (second game only), Henry Thornton

Updated Australia A one-day squad

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, Henry Thornton (one to be added)