Australia wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis has been ruled out of the Men's T20 World Cup after suffering a hand injury, which head coach Andrew McDonald called "an incredibly freak accident" while playing golf in Sydney.
Inglis, who has played nine T20Is for Australia, sustained a deep cut in his right hand when his golf club snapped at the shaft and sliced through. His exit from the tournament now sees Australia in a conundrum on who would be the preferred injury replacement.
"An incredibly freak accident to Josh, unfortunately. Playing the second hole at New South Wales, a short par three, he hit a six iron and as he made contact with the ground, the shaft snapped around the grip area and cut into his hands.
It's not looking good for Josh," said McDonald on SEN Radio's Whateley show."We've got a bit of work to do and a bit of a problem to solve this morning around our backup keeper and also a backup batter. He's potentially not going to take any part in the World Cup, so that's all to unfold."
"It's damage to the palm of the hand which is less than ideal, in his right hand where he'd be gripping the bat and if he had to keep the ball would be impacting that area. He saw a hand specialist yesterday.
Thankfully there's no tendon damage and it looks as though that's the positive out of the negative.""They've been able to stitch it up and clean up the wound and let the healing begin. With the timeframe and how quickly these games come around, it puts his part in the World Cup in jeopardy, big time," further elaborated McDonald.
Australia will now need to get clearance from the ICC event technical committee to bring in a replacement for Inglis. Talking about the replacement in the squad of fifteen, McDonald mentioned the team think-tank will decide between pace all-rounder Cameron Green, pacer Nathan Ellis, wicketkeeper-batters Ben McDermott, Josh Philippe and Alex Carey.
"We've got to work out what a squad would look like going into a World Cup without a backup keeper. And the scenario that if Matthew Wade were to get injured on the morning of the game, what would we do there if we didn't have a resource within the group that was a standout keeper."
"We've got a little bit to work through. It allows us an option to change the balance of the squad as we would like, or we'd go with the same type of balance which would be a keeper-batsman coming in for Josh. Cam Green, he's definitely a discussion point."
"Anyone who can bat anywhere in the order can give you a few handy overs and can give you a different look if something were to go wrong with your top seven batters. Definitely in the discussion.""Nathan Ellis as well, and then you've got the list of wicketkeeper-batsmen playing domestic cricket at the moment which would include Ben McDermott, Josh Philippe, and Alex Carey, the ODI keeper."
"There are a few people to discuss, but we've just go to get our heads around what the scenario would look like without a backup keeper. If we feel there's too much risk in that, then clearly we'll head down that line of choosing one of those wicketkeepers."
Australia will open their T20 World Cup title defence in the Super 12 stage through a re-match of their 2021 final victory against New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Saturday.