Back scan will determine Spencer Johnson’s availability for the Big Bash League as well as The T20 World Cup.
Johnson’s BBL and T20 World Cup hopes hinge on back scan.
While Australia has been anxiously awaiting Pat Cummins’ scan results, Spencer Johnson, one of the nation’s fast bowlers, must wait this week to see if a stress fracture he sustained during the IPL has healed enough for him to compete in the upcoming BBL and attempt to qualify for the T20 World Cup.
Johnson’s absence from Australia’s T20I team throughout the previous three series had raised some questions, particularly after Mitchell Starc retired from the competition.
Due to a back injury, he was unable to participate in the Caribbean T20I tour and was not chosen for the August T20I and ODI series against South Africa. However, it wasn’t until September that Australia’s chair of selectors, George Bailey, stated that Johnson was unlikely to play until the new year.
At a BBL kit launch event in Melbourne on Thursday, Johnson, who has played five ODIs and eight T20Is, struck a disappointed figure but expressed hope that he could be able to return sooner.
“The back, to be honest, feels fine,” Johnson said. “Stressies are one of those things where they feel good, but it’s just just a waiting game. I’ve got a scan in over the next couple of days, and pending that result, we’ll be able to find out hopefully a return to play there. I think it should be around the Big Bash in some capacity, whether it’s at the start or manage through that. It’s frustrating, but it is what it is.”
“I started to get a bit of back discomfort, and sort of wasn’t too bad, because I was only really training at that stage,” Johnson said. “And when I got back to Australia, I was trying to build-up for the T20 series in the West Indies. I think just the increased load stirred it up a little bit a little bit more. And we got a scan, and unfortunately, there was a stress [fracture] there. A little bit uncommon for a 29-year-old.
“It’s a bit of a strange one, because initially they thought it was an old fracture that had just sort of scarred and then I think more recently the more scans we’ve done, they’ve thought it’s probably a fresher one.”
The left-arm quick’s injury could hardly have occurred at a worse moment. He recovered from an injury that prevented him from playing in the 2024 limited-overs tour of England with a fantastic T20I series against Pakistan at home, which included his first-ever international five-wicket haul in Sydney. Johnson was able to participate in the Champions Trophy due to injuries to Australia’s big three, and he took 2 for 49 from 10 in the rain-soaked match against Afghanistan.
“It’s never a great time being injured,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, especially this calendar year, there’s plenty of white-ball cricket. Regardless of the back I was planning on staying here in the winter and making sure this summer was a big one, hopefully for Australia. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. But there’s still plenty of cricket to play post Christmas and a T20 World Cup and something I’d love to be a part of.”