New Zealand quick Ben Sears is swapping the Wellington winter for Victorian sunshine, signing up for a brief run with Melbourne University Cricket Club while he nurses a tricky hamstring back to full health.
The arrangement is pretty simple. Six games – five T20s plus a one-day fixture – on grass wickets that should give the 27-year-old the overs he has missed since pulling up in the T20Is against Australia at the start of October. If all goes well, he pops straight into Wellington’s Super Smash side just after Christmas. From there, the T20 World Cup in February remains on the radar.
“Ben has missed a large portion of cricket in two out of the last three summers, so it was important for him to get as much cricket as possible on grass wickets leading into his Super Smash return,” New Zealand coach Rob Walter said. “He’s a big part of our future plans and with an important period of T20 cricket ahead of us, we want to ensure Ben has the safest and most appropriate return to play plan in place. He’s been progressing well and we’re looking forward to seeing how he gets on in Melbourne.”
That’s pretty clear. No domestic white-ball cricket is on in New Zealand right now – the Plunket Shield hogs the schedule – so the national set-up had to look offshore. Grade cricket in Melbourne offers competitive overs without the higher load of first-class stuff.
Sears’ hamstring hasn’t been kind. The same muscle ruled him out of the Champions Trophy back in February, and the recent tweak came just when he was settling into a run of T20Is. One Test, four ODIs and 22 T20Is tell you he’s still at the start of an international career, yet the selectors like the pace and the bounce he offers.
He is not alone on the injury list. Will O’Rourke (stress fracture), Lockie Ferguson (hamstring) and Adam Milne (ankle) are all rehabbing, while Kyle Jamieson’s back is being managed carefully. The upside? Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes and Blair Tickner have shown there is genuine depth, especially in the short forms.
Still, Walter and co. would prefer everyone fit for a World Cup summer. A fortnight in Melbourne, some club bus rides, maybe the odd coffee on Lygon Street – if that’s what it takes to get Sears sprinting in again, it’s probably worth the airfare.
