In pursuit of pace: The stresses shaping Callum Vidler

Callum Vidler quips that there's some weeks it feels like he's in an MRI machine more than he sees his family. It's a trade-off of being a fast bowler in the modern era, and at just 20 years old, Vidler is one of the quickest in the country.

His regular visits to the MRI clinic in Brisbane – where he lies inside a narrow cylinder for up to 20 minutes at a time while its powerful electrical coils emit a thumping sound as loud as a jackhammer – serve as a reminder for what he calls a "costly mistake" last winter when the urge to keep going, to keep bowling fast, ran headlong into a reality that has checked so many young quicks before him.

Last year's off-season was a challenging one for Vidler. Consecutive scans that revealed bone oedema in his lower back – also known as hot spots because of how they appear on an MRI scan – eventually gave way to his first stress fracture, which would lead to him missing the entire 2025-26 summer.

Still riding the high of capping a breakout season a few months earlier with a fiery five-wicket effort in the Sheffield Shield final that announced his arrival on the national stage, the Queensland rookie had entered the 2025 winter hungry for more.

With Test names Alex Carey and Nathan McSweeney among his Shield final scalps (4-64 in the first innings followed by 1-60 in the second), it didn't take long for an opportunity to arise on the global franchise circuit.

"To have a good opportunity in the final, even though we lost it, I was so excited to play more cricket after that," said Vidler, reflecting on the 2024-25 Shield final defeat to South Australia.

"I was feeling pretty good, and I had a chance to go over to Major League Cricket (in the United States), so I did a little bit of bowling before I was going to go over.

"But then I had a scan and they said, 'Oh, there's no fracture, but there's a little bit of oedema (inflammation due to fluid build-up inside the bone). It hasn't settled as much as we'd like after the Shield final'."

The whippy right-armer was put on ice and told to refocus his efforts on gym work and the build towards the start of the Australian summer.

Only his body didn't agree with that plan either, and in September last year following a club T20 Max game, he was diagnosed with a partial fracture of his L3 vertebrae.

"Whether that was load or me personally trying to bowl too quick, it just didn't work out last preseason," Vidler told cricket.com.au.

"But moving forward, that was my first stress fracture, so now I know the signs to look out for, and I know what works for me."

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The thrill of finding out just how fast he can bowl has consumed most of Vidler's cricketing journey to date.

It began in the backyard in Ashgrove as a young kid wanting to follow in the footsteps of his idol Pat Cummins, and was honed by his dad, Richie, showing him Mitchell Johnson's Ashes highlights as he grew older.

"I can't grow a moustache or be intimidating, but I certainly wanted to bowl fast," he said.

The need for speed has been there ever since he joined Valley District's under-eights – the Premier Cricket club he still represents today – and was evident when Australia's soon-to-be world champion under-19 team were thrust into the media spotlight during the 2024 World Cup.

"If anyone ever tells me to slow down, I'm not listening to them," Vidler said during the tournament, where he took 14 wickets at 11.71 and formed part of a four-pronged pace attack also featuring Queensland teammate Tom Straker, WA's Mahli Beardman and NSW's Charlie Anderson that stunned favourites India in the final.

As headline-grabbing as the remark was, the reality reflected how Vidler, responding to a question about the best advice he's received, views his role in the team with the skill set he has spent most of his life striving to perfect.

"I was referring to (former Queensland high performance manager) Joe Dawes who told me I was in the squad to bowl fast," Vidler recalls of the interview in January 2024.

"To be honest, I'm not a good batter, so I'm not getting picked unless I'm bowling fast.

"That was the advice, to keep trying to bowl fast because that's my point of difference.

"When it came out, I was like, 'Oh God, that looks a bit rogue. I don't want to come across like a meathead that just wants to bowl fast'. I hope that's not what people think."

Like he did as Australia's leading wicket-taker in that U19 World Cup, and in five impressive outings for the Bulls (that yielded 17 wickets) before his stress fracture, Vidler has let his actions do the real talking.

And there's many layers to the redheaded tearaway, who is majoring in economics and finance at the University of Queensland. As a self-confessed high school 'nerd' during his years at Brisbane Grammar, Vidler embraces the stress of university studies as a way to escape the grind of being a professional athlete.

"Especially with the setback of stress fractures, it was good to get stuck into the books and learn for a bit. Rather than my studies being secondary, I was able to make it my priority," he said.

"I've got a couple of mates from school that are doing it with me, so they've kept me in line. I really enjoy it, and it's good having something to take my mind off cricket and keep me stressed (in a different way).

"I've always got an exam coming up or something else I can be worried about, so if cricket is not going my way, it's good I've still got something else to put my mind to.

"I did a behavioural science subject last semester, which was a little bit of psychology intersecting with finance. Even though finance and cricket aren't really the same, it was cool to see slight crossovers (in the course material).

"I cop a bit of slack for being a nerd from the boys, but I quite enjoy studying. I'm not quite at my peak anymore compared to school when I studied a lot more, but I do love getting into the books."

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Having returned to bowling off his full run-up in recent weeks, Vidler says he quickly went from "getting flogged in the books to flogged on the park" as university broke for the semester and preseason ramped up through June and July.

He hopes to be available for Queensland's season-opening one-dayers in September. Given the extensive period he's spent on the sidelines since that Sheffield Shield final in March 2025, the Bulls hierarchy plan to ease him back into competitive cricket with a white-ball focus prior to the new year, which could include a highly anticipated Big Bash debut for Brisbane Heat.

He's then aiming to return to red-ball cricket in early 2027 in the second half of the Shield season.

While his back was fully healed in December, the longer runway has been a crucial difference from this time last year, with Vidler – whose 2024 preseason was also disrupted by osteitis pubis – learning to trust a slower, more measured build-up.

Late last season there was still a faint hope he might squeeze back for Queensland's final few 50-over games, or even the decider that the third-placed Bulls ultimately missed by one point.

"Working with the sport science team and the physios, I thought it was a really good process but, in the end, we probably just didn't have enough time," Vidler said.

"A couple of times the Cricket Australia support staff have injected themselves into the meetings as well, so it's good to have that trust with them and Queensland Cricket that they're looking out for me.

"We've been monitoring the bone oedema and how my body has responded to the increased loads. Now that I've got a long runway to get back to 100 per cent, I'm feeling pretty good, and hopefully I'll be back playing soon."

The extended recovery period has also transformed how Vidler thinks about fast bowling. Rather than simply chasing bigger speeds, endurance has become a growing focus, particularly after an Ashes summer spent watching in awe of Mitchell Starc's ability to keep backing up to bowl 140kph day after day.

The match before that Shield final was when the then 19-year-old Vidler says he received his first "wake-up call" of what it takes to succeed as a fast bowler at the top level. South Australia, having already sealed hosting rights for the decider the following week, settled in for some batting practice in 40C heat at Karen Rolton Oval, racking up 7-614 across five sessions before declaring late on the second day.

Vidler sent down 17 overs for a return of 1-98 followed by 1-29 from eight in the second innings as Queensland were forced to field on all four days of the drawn encounter.

"It was a welcome back to Shield cricket after I debuted the year before," Vidler said.

"I felt like I dropped off a bit in terms of my endurance and being able to bowl that day four at the same pace with the same accuracy. So that was a deliberate focus going into last preseason that I really wanted to work hard on my muscular endurance, so that I could bowl as fast on day four as I did day one.

"Watching Mitchell Starc bowling over 145kph on days four and five is exactly what I wish to do one day – to be able to go all day and be the person you throw the ball to later in the match to get a burst of pace.

"He's got skills well beyond anything I can hope for yet. It's a shame I'm a lot shorter and right-handed, but in terms of the way he bowls, I love just watching him run in all day, so he's certainly someone I look up to."

It was the words of his idols Cummins and Starc that helped assure him it wasn't worth pushing for a return late last season. Having picked their brains while running drinks for Australia during last summer's day-night Ashes Test at the Gabba, the pair reinforced that patience was key to avoiding recurring back injuries.

While Vidler's immediate priority is simply getting through the upcoming summer healthy, his long-term ambitions remain unchanged. And his brush with the longevity of Starc and Cummins has assured him he still has plenty of time to do so.

"My point of difference is to keep bowling fast," he said. "I haven't been on the park for a while, but I'd love to be able to bowl fast all day and for multiple days, that's my dream and my goal."