Australian pacer 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 upcoming 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 is scheduled towards the end of September.
Head coach McDonald said Australia’s preparations had been carefully managed over the past month, with players shuttling between Brisbane and their home states before linking up 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.
