World Cup: Australia announce Jhye Richardson's replacement- Details here
Australia have suffered a setback in their ICC World Cup 2019 title defense as young pacer Jhye Richardson has been ruled out following a shoulder injury. They have announced his replacement in the form of another Richardson, and it would be Kane. Kane is high on confidence post his performance in this season's Big Bash League. Here are further details:
Jhye had injured himself during Australia's tour of Pakistan last month, as he suffered a dislocated shoulder. Although he was initially named in the World Cup squad, after analyzing his progress and the time required to recover, the Australian selectors decided to drop him.
Australia team physio David Beakley said that it is extremely disappointing to see Jhye miss out the World Cup, despite following an exceptional rehabilitation process. "After his most recent assessment and attempting to bowl in the nets, it was clear that Jhye was not progressing as fast as required," he said, as the selectors decided to make the tough call of dropping him.
"Jhye will continue with his rehabilitation and we will look to resume bowling in the coming weeks. At this stage, we are still hopeful that he could be available for the Australia A tour of England [in June]," Beakley further voiced.
Kane's astonishing form this season started with the BBL, where he claimed 24 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 17.70 for Melbourne Renegades. While he has been irregular in the national side, considering his last 10 ODIs, he has claimed 20 wickets for 544 runs at a fine average of 27.20. On paper, he looks like the perfect replacement.
Despite the unfortunate ouster of Jhye from the squad, Australia have found the perfect replacement in the form of Kane. Moreover, the side would also be gaining back the priceless services of David Warner and Steve Smith. Hence Australia would fancy their chances of a successful title defense with a record sixth title, as they start the proceedings against Afghanistan on June 1.
