Australia quick Tayla Vlaeminck's horror run with injury continues with shoulder surgery ruling her out of a second straight WBBL season months before the tournament is set to get underway.
Cricket Australia confirmed on Friday that Vlaeminck had surgery to stabilise her left shoulder following the dislocation she suffered while bowling for Australia A in July on the tour of England that ran alongside the Women's Ashes.
It was Vlaeminck's first foray back into representative cricket in 18 months following a long rehabilitation for a stress fracture in the navicular bone in her right foot. That injury initially kept her out of the 2020 T20 World Cup but a recurrence during the 2021-22 home Ashes saw her miss the 2022 ODI World Cup, the 2022 Commonwealth Games, last season's WBBL and the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa.
Having been on the comeback trail, thanks in part to working with the Australian Ballet to strengthen her feet, she will now miss another WBBL campaign with Melbourne Renegades, having not played a game for them since returning to Renegades in 2022 after spending the previous two seasons with Hobart Hurricanes. Since making her WBBL debut in 2018, Vlaeminck has played just 33 matches and will have missed three seasons entirely through injury by the end of this year.
CA's head of performance for women's cricket Shawn Flegler confirmed there was no timeframe for Vlaeminck's recovery. She will be unavailable when Australia host West Indies for three T20Is and three ODIs in October but the next international series for Australia is not until late December when they tour India for an all-format tour of one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is.
"We're disappointed for Tayla, she has shown incredible resilience and perseverance throughout injury setbacks over the past few years and worked hard to earn her spot on the Australia A tour," Flegler said.
"We will continue to work collaboratively with Cricket Victoria's high-performance staff to support Tayla over the course of her rehabilitation."
Meanwhile, there is more positive news for Australia with long-term captain Meg Lanning returning to training with Victoria ahead of the domestic summer after missing the Women's Ashes due an undisclosed medical issue.
Victoria's WNCL season begins on September 26 against Western Australia in Perth. Stand-in Australia captain Alyssa Healy was hopeful Lanning would be ready to return for the series against West Indies, beginning on October 1.