Ashton Turner returns from ‘frustrating’ injury battle as WA chase cricketing history
Western Australia’s chase for four one-day titles on the bounce will begin where the most recent one ended, in Sydney against New South Wales.
But there’s a trump card back in their deck for the first game of the summer — returning captain Ashton Turner.
WA’s white-ball skipper delicately nursed a knee injury through the first part of last summer, until it came to a head early in the Big Bash League and he missed the rest of the season.
He returned to the Indian Premier League earlier this year and played for Manchester in The Hundred.
Opening up on a difficult season, Turner said he worried at the time he had “let people down”, but admitted going in for surgery after limping away from Perth Scorchers clash with Hobart in December was a relief because it allowed him to knock the injury on its head.
“It wasn’t ideal to need surgery on my knee at sort of Christmas time last year and it probably took me longer than I would have liked to get up to speed,” he told The West Australian.
“I’d probably played the whole season with a sore knee, so it made going to training, playing hard work, I wasn’t fully fit.
Camera IconAshton Turner in action for Durham in the County championship. Credit: Harry Trump/Getty Images
“As frustrating as it was, to go and have it fixed and now be back close to 100 per cent, that’s exciting.
“But being able to go to India and the UK and play quite a lot of cricket now over the winter — in both formats of the game — I’ve been able to tick a couple of boxes, one the rehab and to be able to play and perform, it’s a satisfying feeling.
“For me, at this stage of my career, the best preparation is to be playing cricket.”
WA would become the first team in the history of the 50-over competition to win four straight championships.
Seamer Matt Kelly won all three titles on offer two seasons ago, but injury and selection meant he missed out altogether last season.
“We don’t look at it from an historical sense, but we look at it internally and think how exciting that would be and what a special thing that would be for our group,” he said.
“After last year we won it, but that moves pretty quickly and all of a sudden we’re here talking about a new season.”
Turner will slot into a middle-order also likely to include Hilton Cartwright for Sunday’s clash with New South Wales, but there is a batting spot still open for either Keaton Critchell or for Baxter Holt to debut against his former side.
And he hinted one of WA’s red-ball openers, Sam Whiteman or Cam Bancroft, would shift to the top of the order to open the batting with D’Arcy Short.
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