Tigers' spinner Freeman steps away from cricket

Cricket Tasmania has confirmed off-spinner Jarrod Freeman is taking an indefinite break from cricket due to his mental health.

Freeman has played all of the Tigers Sheffield Shield matches over the past two seasons, carving out a crucial role in Tasmania's XI despite Blundstone Arena's notoriously seam-friendly conditions.

The 23-year-old took 18 wickets at 46.22 and hit 295 runs from No.8 in Tasmania's run to the Shield final last season, taking four wickets in their loss to Western Australia.

He has stepped away from the game as teammates returned to preseason training earlier this month.

Cricket Tasmania did not provide a timeline for his return.

"Cricket Tasmania extends its support to Jarrod during this leave period and values the importance of mental health," they said in a statement.

"The organisation hopes to see him return to cricket in the future.

"Cricket Tasmania continues to support all athletes with appropriate mental health training and education, acknowledging the challenges professional athletes can face throughout their careers."

The Tigers are well covered in the spin department heading into the 2024-25 summer despite Freeman's absence after recruiting Test-capped left-armer Matthew Kuhnemann from Queensland and Australia Under-19 World Cup-winning off-spinner Raf MacMillan from NSW.

High performance boss Salliann Beams said the pair's recruitment was to create a "healthy rivalry" among their spinners and refused to guarantee Kuhnemann the No.1 role for the start of the summer.

But the 27-year-old did return to Brisbane during the initial stages of preseason earlier this month to keep training on turf wickets as a standby player for Australia's T20 World Cup squad.

Kuhnemann played three Tests during Australia's tour of India last year and four ODIs in Sri Lanka the year prior.

"We've been really clear and told (Kuhnemann) you're not our No.1 spinner but obviously there's opportunity," Beams said following his recruitment in April.

"He's certainly under no promises that he's going to walk straight into the team, but he's got a great character and he's just said 'right, I'm going back myself, I feel like I've got the best opportunity down here'."

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