Tayla Vlaeminck ruled out of WBBL after having more shoulder surgery

Few bowlers in women’s cricket could rock the radar like Tayla Vlaeminck, but her injury curse has struck again.

The cursed career of one of the world‘s fastest bowlers has taken another ugly twist, with Tayla Vlaeminck ruled out of the entire WBBL after having more shoulder surgery and being on the verge of a return to the Australian team.

Vlaeminck, who made her international debut as a 20-year-old in 2018, has played just a single T20 for Australia since 2021 amid a wretched run of injuries and will miss the WBBL for a second straight season.

The now 24-year-old dislocated her left shoulder, her non-bowling shoulder, during the final 50-over match of the Australia A series in England last month.

Given how innocuous the incident that caused the injury was, and with likelihood of continual recurrence, the decision was made to progress with surgical stabilisation.

Vlaeminck has now begun yet another period of rehabilitation and is unavailable for the entire WBBL season, with her playing return unclear.

Tayla Vlaeminck has had a horror run of injuries. Picture: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

“We’re disappointed for Tayla, she has shown incredible resilience and perseverance throughout injury setbacks over the past few years and worked hard to earn her spot on the Australia A tour,” Cricket Australia head of performance Shawn Flegler said.

“We will continue to work collaboratively with Cricket Victoria’s high performance staff to support Tayla over the course of her rehabilitation.”

Vlaeminck, one of the few bowlers in the women’s game who could regularly hit the 120km/h ark, had made a long-awaited return to cricket on the Australia A tour in June and July after recovering from her second serious foot injury.

The Victorian was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her navicular bone in January 2022 and subsequently missed the ODI World Cup in New Zealand, 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa.

She had the same injury in 2020 and missed Australia’s home T20 World Cup as a result.

Vlaeminck last appeared for Australia in a T20I in Adelaide in January 2022 and last played in the WBBL in 2021.

Originally published as Tayla Vlaeminck ruled out of WBBL after having more shoulder surgery