The Melbourne Renegades’ youngest player in their inaugural season of the WBBL – Georgia Lee Wareham has been serving Australia as a leg-spinner in international cricket since 2018. During this stunt, she picked 24 wickets in her 23 appearances with an impressive economy of just 4.24. These records, however, will be on hold for some time as she had injured herself while fielding during their encounter against the Adelaide Strikers. While it was known almost immediately that she would end up missing the rest of the WBBL, regrettably, there is a lot more in store for her.
As per her medical reports, she has suffered an ACL injury which in simple terms is a tear or sprain in the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee and has a tedious recovery time.
To add to this agony, her previous medical conditions extended this already long resting period as Australian team doctor Pip Inge was quoted saying,” Due to her previous history, Georgia requires a two-stage process to reconstruct her left ACL.
She had a knee arthroscopy in Adelaide last week to remove the previous graft and will now commence rehab in Melbourne while she awaits for the knee to be ready for the ACL reconstruction in early 2022.
Due to the recovery time, Georgia will be unavailable for the Ashes, World Cup, and Commonwealth Games with her return to play time-frame expected to become clearer after the reconstruction.”
What was initially expected to be a break from WBBL has now extended to Wareham not being a part of the Ashes next year in January-February in Australia, the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in February-March in New Zealand, and finally, the Commonwealth Games in July-August at the Alexander Stadium in the UK. This is a major setback for women’s cricket as the likes of the uprising 22-year-old will be missed not only by the Renegades but also by Australia who has now lost one of their prime and most consistent bowlers.
How this will be dealt with by Team Australia is something the cricket fraternity will be waiting to watch unfold and until then, we hope for Wareham’s physical and mental recovery as she misses out on some truly life-changing opportunities.
Student, Athlete, and Cricket Enthusiast.