Australia hell-bent to end tide of injury breakdowns among pacemen
Sydney, Dec. 20 (ANI)
Australia is apparently hell-bent on stopping the 'injury curse' on its pacemen, after Cricket Australia's high performance chief Pat Howard claimed that a wide-ranging review of the management of bowlers is under way in a bid to stem the tide of breakdowns.
It comes after three of the country's most promising young quicks - James Pattinson (side strain), Patrick Cummins
(back) and Josh Hazlewood (foot) - have succumbed to injuries already this summer.
Ben Hilfenhaus (side strain), Ryan Harris (shoulder) and John Hastings (back) are also other Australian players who
are in rehabilitation, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
According to the paper, Howard admitted, that with the benefit of hindsight, Cricket Australia had probably got it
wrong by allowing Pattinson to play four Sheffield Shield matches in a row and then two Tests against South Africa
last month.
"Maybe James Pattinson should have been pulled out of one of the Sheffield Shield games in the lead-up. Everybody
is in this. The selectors are in it, the coaches are in it, the management is in it, the executives are in it. Everybody is
involved in those discussions," he said.
"That part of it is: Did they play enough, did they play too much? You look at volumes of training, volumes of
playing and obviously preparation and leading in," he added.
Howard also conceded that the spate of fast bowling injuries is ''not good enough'' for Cricket Australia.
''Every time things don't go to plan, you've got to ask the questions. To be simple, it's not good enough, we have too
many injuries," he said.