Vidler ruled out of Australia A tour of India with a partial stress fracture

Queensland’s highly-ranked teenage fast bowler Callum Vidler has been ruled out of the Australia A white-ball tour of India this month after scans revealed a partial stress fracture in his back. One of the country’s most promising young players of which inAaparkaaraaget) that wehave had for many years, the 19-year-old will also be unavailable for the beginning of the domestic campaign.

Vidler initially felt discomfort while competing in the T20 Max competition in Queensland, where he had played three games for Valley as part of his preparation for the India tour. Subsequent scans detected a fracture to his L3 vertebrae and Queensland and Cricket Australia have placed him on a rehabilitation program straight away.

The disappointment comes as Vidler’s profile was rapidly rising. He shone in the Sheffiled Shield final earlier this year, picking up 4 for 64 and 1 for 60 against South Australia at Karen Rolton Oval. His pace and bounce on dead pitches made him on of the most effective young quicks in the country.

Queensland’s general manager of high performance, Joe Dawes, confirmed the news and said: “Callum had some back pain during training and we are fortunately all over it. Unfortunately, the scans revealed a stress fracture. Simply put, he’s understandably frustrated but knows injuries come with the territory. We’ll work in tandem with him and give him all the help he needs to recover from the surgery and rehab after that, and get him back playing cricket some time during the next year.He returned to Ireland midway through the first Test at Lord’s citing exhaustion, and his international future now seems in some doubt yet England don’t anticipate him requiring surgery until the autumn.

His latest back injury further extends the list of Australian fast bowlers who have been ruled out of the game. Test captain Pat Cummins is nursing a hot spot, while Lance Morris has had back surgery that could sideline him for at least 12 months. Brody Couch, who had been drafted in to replace Morris in Australia A red-ball matches, also suffered a side strain, and South Australia’s Henry Thornton stepped up to share the fetching and carrying in India red and white-ball matches.

Vidler was one of a crop of emerging fast bowlers identified after Australia won the Under-19 World Cup, along with Tom Straker, Mahli Beardman and Charlie Anderson. Beardman is coming back from stress fractures, and Anderson has been managing ongoing back problems the past few years. Given there are so many young quicks at the moment out of action, concern is also gathering about the workload of Australia’s express battery.

Vidler’s timeframe on the sideline is indefinite at this stage and he will spend a period rehabilitating. Queensland, meanwhile, will go into next week’s start to the Dean Jones Trophy season with a weakened pace attack, but the hope their young spearhead will be back firing later in the summer.