Matthew Kuhnemann still a chance to tour Sri Lanka after hurting his finger in the Big Bash League
Matt Kuhnemann remains a chance to tour Sri Lanka with the Australian Test team after successful finger surgery following an injury sustained in the BBL on Thursday night.
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Matt Kuhnemann remains a chance to tour Sri Lanka despite undergoing thumb surgery on Friday with no obvious replacement for the spinner in Australia’s domestic ranks.
Kuhnemann left the field late in the Brisbane Heat’s Big Bash League match against the Hobart Hurricanes on Thursday night at the Gabba after hurting his right thumb trying to field a drive from Matthew Wade off his own bowling.
It’s understood the left-arm spinner successfully underwent surgery on Friday and has not yet been ruled out of the two-Test series beginning in Galle on January 29.
Kuhnemann is no chance of departing on time for a training camp in Dubai over the weekend, but a final call on his availability for the Tests could still be days away given the series doesn’t start for well over a week.
Despite playing just three Tests, Kuhnemann is in many respects the hardest player in the 16-man squad to replace given the dearth of left-arm finger spinners in Australian professional cricket.
Part-timer Cooper Connolly is already in the squad, with the Kuhnemann news boosting the 21-year-old’s chances of getting a baggy green in Galle.
The clear standout Sheffield Shield spinner not in the squad is West Australian off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli, but Australia already has two specialist offies in its squad (Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy).
Ashton Agar, who turned down a state deal with WA last year, has surged back into contention for what would be the sixth Test of a stop-start career. Douglas Warren, a lefty with Victoria, is also among the handful of players plying the craft in the Shield.
Another option for selectors is to pick a wrist-spinner to replace Kuhnemann, with Mitchell Swepson and Adam Zampa the leading candidates on that front. Tanveer Sangha and Lloyd Pope are the other leggies playing regular state cricket.
Kuhnemann’s Heat and Australian teammate Marnus Labuschagne told AAP after the game on Thursday night that things looked ominous for the spinner.
“I just heard about Matt Kuhnemann, so that’s pretty bad,” Labuschagne said.
“Thumb ... it doesn’t look great. I really feel for him.”
Kuhnemann leapfrogged Agar and Swepson into the Test XI after being a late call-up in India two years ago.
However Swepson had kept Kuhnemann out of Queensland’s Sheffield Shield team, prompting the lefty to move to Tasmania for greater opportunity last year.
Selection chair George Bailey said earlier in the month that Connolly was a realistic chance of making his Test debut in Sri Lanka.
“Technically, we like it. Temperament, we like. Character, we like. Clearly, skill set, there’s a lot to like there as well,” Bailey said.
“He’s someone that we’ve had our eye on for a period of time.
“On the first-class front, there’s not a great deal of games behind him, but he is one that’s been around that one-day group.
“We have in the past used that as a stepping stone at different times to see a player a bit more, find out a bit more about the way they play. He was obviously the beneficiary of that.”
Originally published as Matthew Kuhnemann still a chance to tour Sri Lanka after hurting his finger in the Big Bash League
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