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| October 9, 2002 | Wednesday | Sha’aban 2, 1423 |
Williams replaces injured Gillespie
MELBOURNE, Oct 8: Australia paceman Jason Gillespie, who sustained a calf injury in the first Test victory over Pakistan in Colombo Monday, has been ruled out of the rest of the series.
In a statement Tuesday the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) said Gillespie would be replaced in the squad by Western Australia fast bowler Brad Williams.
Williams, 27, made his one-day international debut against New Zealand earlier this year but has yet to play in a Test match. He is rated as one of Australia’s quickest bowlers.
Williams has played 43 first-class matches for Western Australia and Victoria, taking 156 wickets at 30.48. He was 12th man for Australia in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in December last year when Gillespie withdrew from the squad with a shoulder injury.
Gillespie, 27, who has taken 126 wickets at 26.36 in 34 Tests, also broke down with injury in Sri Lanka in 1999 while attempting a catch in a Test at Kandy. The aggressive fast bowler collided with captain Steve Waugh, breaking his leg while Waugh broke his nose.
Gillespie’s place in the 11 this week is likely to go to uncapped off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, 20, who was 12th man in Colombo this week, or paceman Andrew Bichel.
The ACB statement said Williams left Australia Tuesday while Gillespie would remain with the squad for further treatment.
“Gillespie injured the calf while bowling after lunch on the final day of the first Test against Pakistan in Colombo,” it said.
Australia, ranked number one in Test cricket, won the first test by 41 runs. The second and third Tests in the three-match series will be played in Sharjah with the next Test starting Friday.
Meanwhile, Australia’s newspapers were critical Tuesday of Mark Waugh’s performance after he dropped three slip catches in the first Test.
The Age’s main sports story, headlined “Victory wins time for Waugh”, said: “Mark Waugh’s tenuous hold on a place in the Test team appears to have been saved by Australia’s last-gasp victory yesterday.
“Waugh dropped two regulation catches at second slip yesterday that could so easily have cost his team the win, increasing the pressure on the selectors to drop him for the second Test in Sharjah, starting on Friday.”
The 37-year-old, who made 55 and 0 with the bat in Colombo, was dropped from Australia’s one-day side earlier this year. His twin brother Steve, the Test captain who was also axed from the limited-overs team, made 31 and 0.
Steve said after the victory that he knew he and his brother would receive negative press back home.
The Australian’s main sports story, headlined “Waugh’s new-ball gamble pays off”, noted the team had dropped six catches in the first match of the three-Test series.
“Aided by some breathtakingly shoddy catching, Pakistan’s under-rated batsmen had edged within 74 runs of their 316 victory target when Waugh backed his instincts and trusted his quick bowlers to capture the five wickets he needed,” The Australian said.—Reuters
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