Australia's Josh Inglis has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup because of a freak hand injury suffered while playing golf, opening the door for Cameron Green to come into the squad.
Inglis's right hand was cut when the shaft of a golf club — a six-iron when playing a par three at the New South Wales Golf Club on Wednesday — snapped.
"An incredibly freak accident," said Australia coach Andrew McDonald.
“Playing the second hole at NSW, 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.
"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."
Officials spent Thursday weighing up who to bring into the squad and whether to draft another back-up keeper to Matthew Wade.
But ultimately they opted to go in favour of all-rounder Green, overlooking Alex Carey, Ben McDermott and Josh Philippe as well as quick Nathan Ellis who had been in consideration.
Green's non-selection in Australia's initial T20 squad had loomed as a talking point in the lead-up to the tournament, particularly after he scored runs in India last month.
His scores of 61, five and 52 had even prompted suggestions Australia could find a loophole to bring him in, before more modest returns against England and West Indies.
However coach Andrew McDonald made clear on Thursday he would not be in Australia's first-choice XI.
"If Cameron Green was considered in the starting XI before the tournament started, then he would be in the 15," McDonald said.
"And he's not. So there is no way, unless there is another injury, that he would come into the starting XI.
"We are pretty settled with what that looks like."
Australia's decision means they have taken a gamble on Wade getting through each warm-up and match without injury.
If Wade was to go down between games, the fact the tournament is in Australia means officials could bring a player in relatively quickly if the injury was to rule him out of the tournament.
However changes to the squad cannot be made on match days, meaning if Wade was to be hurt in a warm-up Australia would have to rely on a part-timer taking the gloves.
McDonald threw up David Warner, Aaron Finch and opening bowler Mitchell Starc as options on Thursday, with the latter a keeper in representative cricket until his mid-teens.
"With our recent injury record you would probably say it is higher than low (risk)," McDonald quipped before Green's call up was finalised.
"If you look back over World Cup squad selections there have been plenty of times where Australia have gone in with only one front-line 'keeper in the squad.
"And that is to give greater flexibility to batting and bowling structures in the team.
"It's a conversation about how we want to give ourselves the most options, rather than potentially covering the small risk that is there."
AAP
