Badree out of BBL with shoulder issue

West Indies legspinner Samuel Badree has been ruled out of the Big Bash League due to an issue with his shoulder, for which he will undergo surgery. Badree was set to turn out for Brisbane Heat in the Australian Twenty20 league, which begins on Thursday.

"It is very unfortunate for Samuel, who was looking forward to playing in the BBL with us and would have been an exciting player to watch for our fans. We wish him a speedy and successful recovery," Heat general manager Andrew Blucher said.

Badree's injury means former England allrounder Andrew Flintoff and New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori will be the Heat's only two international signings this year. Flintoff, in Badree's absence, will play the entire BBL season; he was initially set to play only the latter half, as the BBL rules allow each team only two international players at a time.

Heat coach Stuart Law said he will look to play Flintoff as much as possible. "It is a pretty clear case that we need a new-ball option, which we thought we had with Samuel," Law told News Corp. "We are definitely now looking at Fred [Flintoff] playing in as many games as we can. The chances are he will now play 90% of our games, if not all of them. I would say he will play in our opening game, he is certainly fit and ready to play."