Jhye eyes long-awaited Shield comeback next month

Test-capped fast bowler Jhye Richardson is eyeing next month's Marsh Sheffield Shield match against South Australia at the WACA Ground for his long-awaited return from a series of injury setbacks.

Western Australia quick Richardson, who has 33 limited-overs international appearances in addition to his three outings in the Baggy Green cap, played his most recent first-class game a year ago against Queensland in Perth.

Having succumbed to a series of hamstring problems that led to him undergo surgery earlier this year, the 27-year-old dislocated his right shoulder in another fielding mishap in his comeback match for WA in a Toyota Second XI fixture against SA a fortnight ago.

The setback occurred in similar circumstances to the shoulder dislocation that forced Richardson out of Australia's 2019 World Cup campaign in the UK, while the hamstring surgery put paid to his hopes of being involved in the current Cup taking place in India, as well as this year's Ashes tour.

But WA coach Adam Voges has confirmed the latest injury is not as serious as that of four years ago, and Richardson is already back to bowling in the practice nets with a return date of November 15 pencilled in.

"Thankfully it's not too bad but having said that, he still sustained an injury to that shoulder," Voges said in the wake of WA's 200-run win over the Redbacks at Adelaide Oval yesterday.

"We're targeting Shield (match number) five for him which is only two weeks away.

"It's probably more about getting a bit of stability back into the shoulder in the field as much as anything, but we're also being a little bit precautionary.

"He's built (bowling) loads really nicely because we were hoping he would be ready to go for this game, but it will now just be a case of him spending the next two weeks getting ready and the Shield game against South Australia at the WACA is what we're targeting."

Richardson's return could not be more timely for the reigning Shield champions whose enviable depth of fast bowlers is being tested.

Cameron Gannon appeared to suffer a significant quadriceps strain midway through his third over of SA's second innings yesterday morning, and immediately left the field and took no further part in the match.

Having missed WA's second match of the Shield season against Tasmania with soreness in that same quad, Gannon will undergo scans in Perth this week to assess the extent of the damage but is expected to require some time on the sidelines.

Fellow fast bowler Matthew Kelly also suffered a setback in his return from a quad injury when he strained a calf muscle which means he's unlikely to resume playing until Perth Scorchers begin their title defence in KFC BBL|13 in December.

The BBL season has also been identified as the likely return for Australia limited-overs all-rounder Ashton Agar who recently suffered a recurrence of the left calf strain that had forced him out of last month's white-ball series in South Africa.

"He's not back until BBL," Voges said of the left-arm spinner and middle-order batter.

"I think that's conservative in terms of a timeframe for getting him back, but we're just giving him every chance to be one hundred per cent by the time he does come back.

"So we'll welcome him back to the Scorchers."

Agar's younger brother, Wes, is also expected to miss the next round of Shield matches after suffering a back spasm while batting for SA late on day two of the game against WA.

He was clearly inconvenienced in sending down 18 overs (2-60) in WA's second innings, and survived just four balls before being last man out for the Redbacks as they were bowled out for 154 yesterday.

"He's had some back spasms, but this is something with his disc," SA coach Jason Gillespie said after his team's defeat yesterday.

"We'll explore that further and have more information when that comes to hand, but at the moment he's pretty sore."

Agar is not expected to play in the Redbacks next Shield encounter against Queensland at the Gabba starting next Monday, but SA are likely to regain new-ball pair Brendan Doggett (hip) and Jordan Buckingham (side strain) for that match.

Sheffield Shield 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Western Australia Men WA	10	5	2	3	0	0	5.53	9.4	47.93
2 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	10	5	2	3	0	0	6.06	8.3	47.36
3 NSW Men NSW	10	4	3	3	0	0	6.31	9	42.31
4 Victoria Men VIC	10	4	4	2	0	0	4.74	8.2	38.94
5 South Australia Men SA	10	3	6	1	0	0	5.19	9.3	33.49
6 Queensland Bulls QLD	10	2	6	2	0	0	3.54	8.3	25.84

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points