Heat pace duo sidelined in early 'spanner' for BBL defence

Brisbane Heat are set to be without star allrounder Michael Neser for the first half of KFC BBL|14 with Spencer Johnson also under an injury cloud on the eve of the season.

The reigning BBL champions will take a depleted pace attack into their season opener against Melbourne Stars at the MCG next Wednesday with Neser unlikely to be available until mid-January and Johnson expected to miss game one with a toe injury.

Their batting order will also look vastly different to last season with captain Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney on Test duties and Englishman Sam Billings (Sydney Thunder) and opener Josh Brown (Melbourne Renegades) signing with rival teams during the off-season.

Neser suffered a left hamstring injury bowling for Australia A at the MCG last month and new Heat head coach Johan Botha told cricket.com.au his expected recovery had been pushed back until possibly mid-January.

"The plan was the first of January game, now it's been pushed back even longer," Botha said. "He's in good spirits but we'll have to see how it plays out."

Left-armer Johnson, who today signed a two-year contract extension to remain with the Heat until the end of BBL|17, sustained a toe injury playing for South Australia in round five of the Sheffield Shield.

He pushed through the pain to send down 45 overs for the match but missed SA's following match against Tasmania.

Johnson was player of the match with 4-26 in last season's BBL|13 Final triumph over Sydney Sixers.

"Immediately there's a spanner in the works," Botha said. "We could start the tournament with two of our main bowlers out.

"We'll have to manage Spencer to start with, I don't know if he'll get up for game one … it could be five days, it could be 15 days, I don't know when he'll be ready.

"Hopefully we've got a deep enough squad to get us a pretty good start to the tournament and then we'll get those guys back as the tournament goes on."

Johnson added today: "It is settling down nicely, and whether I play or not will be up to the selectors."

Botha said he expects rising star Xavier Bartlett to play a huge role helping them navigate the early stages of the season and there would be opportunities for others to step up.

"(Bartlett's) done really well for Australia, he did a great job for the Heat last season and with two of our senior bowlers under an injury cloud at the moment, he's going to become huge," the coach said.

The former South African international has already dipped into his pace reserves in his dual role as Queensland Bulls coach with Australia Under-19 World Cup-winning quick Tom Straker, Tom Whitney and Liam Guthrie all impressing in the state competitions.

Right-armer Whitney, 22, claimed his maiden five-wicket haul against South Australia in a Shield match in October, while Straker took 4-87 against Tasmania and Guthrie 4-15 in a one-dayer against SA.

Those three are not yet part of a BBL list for the upcoming season but could be signed as replacement players.

Jack Wildermuth and multi-skilled pace and wrist-spinning allrounder Jack Wood are part of Brisbane's 18-man roster and could be in line for opportunities early in the season.

Meanwhile, Straker's U19 teammate Callum Vidler is also recovering from a groin injury and is yet to play for the Bulls this season after a sensational Sheffield Shield debut at the end of last summer.

Vidler is playing for Queensland in this week's U19 National Championships in Adelaide to get some overs under his belt, and Botha said if they felt he was ready, "he'd definitely be a chance of playing".

The 19-year-old started the tournament with 4-26 off 8.4 overs against WA on Thursday.

New Zealand veteran Colin Munro, who signed a two-year deal with the Heat ahead of this season's overseas player draft, is expected to lead the side for the first half of BBL|14 with regular captain Khawaja and stand-in BBL|13 championship-winning skipper McSweeney, as well as Bulls captain Labuschagne, playing in Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India.

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