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Klinger heading home early from England

Shoulder injury forces a premature end to batsman's county season

Veteran batsman Michael Klinger is leaving English county club Gloucestershire early to rehabilitate an injured shoulder in an effort to be ready for the start of the domestic summer with Western Australia.

Klinger will fly back to Perth on Sunday and immediately begin rehabbing his injured wing. 

"I’ve got a little bit of a niggle in my right shoulder that’s come back in the last week or so," Klinger said on Gloucestershire’s website.

"With the WACA (Western Australia Cricket Association) being informed back home (of the injury) they want me to come back with only four weeks to go before the start of our season which is fair enough.

"I’ll go back Sunday now and hopefully get a fair bit of rehab into that shoulder over the next four weeks and make sure I’m 100 per cent to go for the start of October for our season back home." 

Another Shield ton for in-form Klinger

Western Australia’s first match of the 2016-17 summer is a Matador BBQs One-Day Cup clash against the West End Redbacks on October 2 in at the WACA Ground.

Klinger was set to return home in 10 days’ time to be with his wife for the upcoming birth of their third child.

But in those 10 days two four-day county fixtures are scheduled, meaning Klinger will end the season with 589 runs at 73.62 from seven matches, including three centuries.

He finished the season with a pair of 10s against Kent in Bristol on Friday, and while the 36-year-old has signed on for the 2017 season, there’s no guarantee he’ll be back wearing the whites at the County Ground next year.

"I’ll be certainly coming back for the one-day competition and Twenty20 (tournament) next year, and Twenty20 (tournament) the following years after that," Klinger said.

"This could be potentially the last game of red-ball cricket for the club.

"If I’m around during a four-day game next year and the club asks me to play I’ll certainly play and help out. We’ll play that by ear."

Klinger signed with Division Two outfit Gloucestershire in 2013 and has been a dominant force in the club’s limited-overs teams.

In four seasons in Bristol the right-hander has amassed 1,798 one-day runs at 78.17 with five centuries, while in the shortest format of the game, Klinger has scored 1,866 runs at a stellar 50.43 with five centuries to boot.