Redback Harry Nielsen signs two-year Adelaide Strikers deal, says not satisfied just to be Alex Carey’s back-up
Son of a gun Harry Nielsen has signed a two-year deal with Adelaide Strikers in the BBL and says wants to make his mark as a middle-order batsman.
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He is Alex Carey’s back-up wicketkeeper but Harry Nielsen isn’t going to be satisfied playing second fiddle to the World Cup star for the Adelaide Strikers in next season’s Big Bash League.
“My mindset won’t be on playing just when Alex is on Australian duty,’’ the 24-year-old Redback said.
“I’m looking to play every game for the Strikers and, when Alex is playing, think I can offer something with the bat in the middle order.
“I don’t expect to take the gloves from him but I’ll be planning to play a role in the middle of the batting line-up and hopefully can make a position mine.’’
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Nielsen — the oldest son of SACA high performance manager and former Australian coach Tim Nielsen — has signed a two-year contract with the Strikers for BBL09 and BBL10.
He already has represented the Strikers six times, primarily as a replacement for Carey and fellow Australian player Travis Head when they have been on Australian duty, and averaged 40 in four innings, with a top score of 44 not out.
Nielsen made his Strikers debut in the 2017-18 Big Bash semi-final against the Melbourne Renegades — as a replacement player for Carey — on the way to Jason Gillespie’s team winning its first and only BBL title.
The classy left-handed batsman has played 11 first-class matches, averaging 23.36, including making a stunning century on his Redbacks debut against Victoria in February last year.
“When Alex is away on Australian duty there’ll be an opportunity for me to wicket keep for the Strikers but I understand my role in the squad, which is to slot into that middle order and then take the gloves when he is away,’’ Nielsen said.
“It will be a bit of a double-edged sword for me. I've had a decent start to my Strikers career and hopefully that will continue this season.’’
Nielsen is recovering from finger surgery which prematurely ended his English season.
After playing through the second half of last summer with a sore middle finger on his right hand, Nielsen was playing strictly as a batsman for Sussex Premier League club Cuckfield but was forced home eight weeks early to have surgery when it continued to bother him.
“I had 12 weeks off wicketkeeping to try to let the finger heal but it wasn’t getting better so
I decided to come home and have it cleaned out,’’ he said.
“I had a fractured knuckle so the surgery required taking a chunk of the knuckle out that had broken, cleaning out some cartilage and tightening the ligaments.
“It was a bit messy but it’s all part of the caper of being a wicketkeeper and something that we all have had to deal with at one stage or another throughout a career.
“I started catching balls again on Monday and I should be fine to go for the start of the season.’’