Moody grounded by back stress fractures

Hobart Hurricanes and Western Australia paceman David Moody could spend up to six months on the sidelines after succumbing to stress fractures in his back.

The nephew of former Australia allrounder Tom was in line to make his KFC Big Bash League debut this season after putting pen to paper with the Hurricanes in October.

But the towering 22-year-old faces a lengthy rehabilitation period in the latest blow for Hobart as they look to end a three-year absence from BBL finals.

The club has been forced to replace international signing Tom Curran, who has been called up to England’s Ashes squad, with West Indian allrounder Jofra Archer, who has not played at the top level in any format.

Tim Paine is also expected to miss a sizeable part of the BBL season after earning a call-up to Australia’s Magellan Ashes squad.

Internationals Stuart Broad (England) and Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) have departed from last season, while Jonathan Wells has moved to the Strikers and Shaun Tait has retired.

But on the plus side, the man Paine replaced in the Test side, Matthew Wade, has joined the Hurricanes after a direct swap which saw allrounder Beau Webster cross to Melbourne Renegades.

Moody, who has made 21 first-class appearances for WA since his debut in 2015 and had never been on a BBL roster before signing with Hobart in October, will be out for 4-6 months.

“David has been diagnosed with a lumbar stress fracture after experiencing increasing back pain over the past week,” WA head physiotherapist Nick Jones said.

“David will require an extended period of rehabilitation to ensure he is given the best chance of the injury healing completely.”

Former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten has taken charge of the Hurricanes after they parted ways with Damien Wright after BBL|06.

Hobart reached the BBL decider in 2014, as well as the finals of the (now-defunct) Champions League later that year.

But they have experienced a lengthy absence from the top four and finished seventh with a 3-5 win-loss record last season.

While Moody is yet to play in the Twenty20 competition, he shaped as a vital part of the Hurricanes’ bid to end put a stop to their struggles.

Moody, who stands 195cm, had four wickets from two JLT Sheffield Shield matches in 2017 and picked up six wickets at 35.83 in WA's title-winning JLT One-Day Cup team this season.

“We’re really disappointed for David. He’s a talented player who we hoped would really contribute to our squad this year,” Cricket Tasmania chief executive Nick Cummins said.

“It’s a shame we won’t have him for BBL|07, but the most important thing for him is to ensure his recovery goes well and he can get back to cricket sooner rather than later.”

The Hurricanes will start their BBL campaign against the Renegades at Blundstone Arena on December 21.

Hobart Hurricanes squad: George Bailey (c), Jofra Archer (WI), James Bazley, Cameron Boyce, Dan Christian, Hamish Kingston, Ben McDermott, Simon Milenko, Tymal Mills (Eng), Tim Paine, Jake Reed, Sam Rainbird, Tom Rogers, Clive Rose, D'Arcy Short, Matthew Wade