Hayley Matthews injured her shoulder while fielding in the first One-Day International against England at Derby’s County Ground on Friday, May 30. The West Indies captain missed the next two ODIs. However, she returned to action for the ODI series against South Africa, which ended on Tuesday, June 17, by playing all three games.
However, the Melbourne Renegades will have to find a substitute in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), as the 27-year-old will be unavailable to compete throughout the eight-team event. Matthews had been signed as a pre-draft recruit by the Renegades, the reigning champions, for two years, but her absence was reported mere hours before the selection.
Hayley Matthews will be in action for the West Indies’ three-match T20I series against South Africa, which begins on Friday, June 20.
In September, she will also represent the Barbados Royals in the Women’s Caribbean Premier League. The all-rounder will then undergo surgery during the Women’s ODI World Cup, since the West Indies failed to qualify for the global championship. She will not be available for the remainder of the year after that.
“We’re definitely unhappy Hayley won’t be joining us this season. She has been invaluable to the Renegades during her tenure with them, not only in terms of performance, but also in leadership and professionalism. The Renegades and Hayley have a really close relationship, which we know will continue next year and beyond. Hayley loves our club, and we share her disappointment that she will not be able to compete in this year’s championship,” Renegades general manager James Rosengarten was quoted as saying.
The Renegades will now have three foreign positions to fill at the WBBL draft on Thursday, June 19, in Melbourne. Matthews played an important role in the WBBL last season, as the Renegades won the championship for the first time. They finished at the bottom of the table in the previous edition, and their redemption story will be remembered for generations.
Matthews was their leading run-scorer with 324 runs and a strike rate of 130.64, as well as their second-most wicket-taker with 14 scalps and a batting average of fewer than seven runs per over. In international cricket, the Barbadian batsman has 3074 and 2828 runs from 99 One-Day Internationals and 109 Twenty20 Internationals. She has taken 125 and 11 wickets in the two formats, respectively.
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