Tayla Vlaeminck 'shattered' to miss another WBBL

Fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck has admitted she is "shattered" to have been ruled out of the upcoming WBBL season for Melbourne Renegades after a slower-than-expected recovery from the shoulder injury she suffered at last year's T20 World Cup.

Vlaeminck, 26, is one of the quickest bowlers in the world but has had an injury-hit career, making just 29 international appearances since her debut in 2018. Her latest setback came when she dislocated her right shoulder diving in the outfield early in Australia's opening game against Pakistan in the UAE.

The WBBL, which starts on November 9, had been earmarked as a potential comeback for Vlaeminck but her shoulder has not responded well to an increase in bowling workload over the last month. It means that she will miss her fourth consecutive WBBL having not featured in the competition since joining Renegades in 2022.

"I'm obviously a little bit shattered about missing out," Vlaeminck told reporters in Sydney. "Unfortunately my shoulder's just not loving bowling at the moment, so there's not much I can do about that. I think we were hoping that my shoulder would probably respond a little bit better to bowling than it has.

"We lined up Big Bash to be that sort of end point. We sat pretty nice there [at] that year mark, and just in the last four weeks trying to ramp that up it just hasn't responded the way we sort of thought it would.

"We got to a space where I pulled the pin. I probably didn't feel confident enough to be able to actually perform if I got out for the Renegades. It's one thing to get out on the pitch and be back playing, but you actually have to sort of back yourself in to be able to perform and do well for a team, which I didn't feel like I was going to be able to do."

Vlaeminck's list of injuries includes two dislocations of her left shoulder and stress fractures of the foot. Prior to her international debut she had undergone two ACL reconstructions. However, she has tried not to bemoan her bad fortune and Cricket Australia retained her on their central contracts list earlier this year.

"I think you always go there initially, but I don't think it's overly helpful being in that space," she said. "I just like to consider myself pretty lucky that Cricket Australia have stuck by me throughout this whole thing.

"I've got heaps of support and hopefully over the next four to six weeks I'll be able to continue to work on it and see how we go for the back end of the season."

Australian Women's physiotherapist Kate Beerworth said: "Tayla's recovery has been impacted by ongoing limitations, restricting her ability to progess her bowling and work through the end stages of her return to play plan. We'll continue to work with Tayla, the Melbourne Renegades and Cricket Victoria to support her through this next phase."