Injury puts Hastings out of Windies series

MELBOURNE, Australia, CMC – West Indies will not have to contend with fast bowler John Hastings for the Tri-Nations Series in June, after he was ruled out of the Australia squad with injury. The 30-year-old sustained an ankle injury during the ongoing Indian Premier League, while warming up with Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of a game with Mumbai Indians back on April 13.

He returned to Australia following the game and after scans, underwent surgery last weekend to correct the damage.“John experienced pain in his left ankle during his recent stint in the IPL and had scans upon returning home which have confirmed early stage bone stress of his fibula bone near his ankle,” Cricket Australia’s Sports Science and Sports Medicine manager, Alex Kountouris, said. “While laid off with this injury we have taken this opportunity to undertake arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs in his left ankle which have been causing him concern for some time and were possibly contributing to the cause of the bone stress.

“John had this surgery over the weekend and now requires a period of rest to resolve the bone stress and recover from surgery before he will resume bowling.”

Since his international debut six years ago, Hastings has played a single Test, 20 One-Day Internationals and eight Twenty20 Internationals.

He is a well-travelled T20 specialist, and has played 83 T20s overall. The Tri-Nations Series is set to run from June 6-26 in Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis and Barbados, and also includes South Africa.