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Ferguson suffers "shocking" setback

Renegades batsman goes down in practice match on eve of tournament

UPDATE: Scans confirm extent of Ferguson injury

A knee injury to Callum Ferguson has the Melbourne Renegades batsman in doubt for the imminent KFC Big Bash League season.

Ferguson and the Renegades are waiting on results from a scan on his injured left knee caused by a "pretty innocuous" fielding mishap in a practice match at Junction Oval yesterday. 

"Hopefully, the scans come back all good. Fingers crossed for Ferg," Renegades captain Aaron Finch said today.

"He's a great man and such a good player that if it is bad news it will be his third or fourth knee (reconstruction).

"It's disappointing news and shocking for Callum. All we can do is hope for the best on the scan this morning." 

WATCH: Ferguson goes big last summer

Ferguson suffered a serious knee injury prior to the Under-19 World Cup in 2004 and again at the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa, cutting short an impressive one-day career for Australia where he averaged 46 in 25 matches.

The stylish right-hander has added five ODIs to his tally but none since April 2011, but his form for South Australia has been strong in recent seasons.

Last summer Ferguson averaged 52 with four centuries last summer in Sheffield Shield cricket, and has backed up that up with 478 runs this year at 53. 

Renegades coach David Saker says Ferguson's possible stint on the sidelines would lead to a re-jig of the batting order, but is confident he can cover the loss in the short term.

"It has put a bit of a dent in the way we’re planning," Saker said.

"We have enough batters in that group who can probably cover it.

"The problem might occur when we lose some of our Australian players.

"That might become an issue. At the moment I think we can cover it.

"It’s more just a shame for Callum himself because he’s in fantastic form.

"He was batting really well for us in the trial games. He would have been a really important player for us.

"Hopefully the scans are okay but it’s not looking great at the moment." 

WATCH: The Curious Case of Sammy Seagull

While the loss of Ferguson would be a huge blow to the Renegades, who are looking to return to the finals for the first time since BBL|02, the squad has been boosted by the arrival of West Indies pair Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo.

Gayle returns to the BBL after a two-year exile following a poor second season with the Sydney Thunder, while Bravo is back after a short stint with the Renegades last summer.

Saker is excited by the Caribbean duo, and says while Gayle will most likely tee off from ball one, the versatile Bravo will be used a variety of ways this summer.

"Chris (Gayle) is that sort of player that he will just go out and play his way, and that's why we've picked him to do that," Saker said.

"We want him at the top to do what he does really well.

"Dwayne is a proven bowler at T20 cricket, he's probably one of the best T20 bowlers in the world.

"So he can play a lot of different roles with the ball and he's also very destructive with the bat.

"So we'll have our own tactics to certain batters, but he's played a lot of cricket and he knows how the game flows and I'll be confident when the ball goes to him he'll be doing the right things." 

WATCH: Gayle arrives in Melbourne