Richardson's road to return receives positive boost

Injured quick Jhye Richardson remains confident of returning in KFC Big Bash this December after he revealed his recovery from shoulder surgery is ahead of schedule.

Richardson underwent a shoulder reconstruction on his right bowling shoulder in late April to repair the damage he first sustained while diving for a ball in a one-day international against Pakistan in March last year.

The 23-year-old subsequently missed Australia's World Cup and Ashes campaigns in 2019 but returned for the start of the 2019-20 summer and made in his international comeback in the third ODI in South Africa in March.

While he was still able to bowl at top speed, he was unable to properly throw or fully commit in the field, which led Richardson to take advantage of the coronavirus-forced downtime and have more surgery in the hope of not missing too much cricket this summer.

"The plan as it stands to get back to competitive cricket is around the Big Bash," Richardson told cricket.com.au.

"When you put things into perspective that's not really that far away. If cricket does start back up again and the Big Bash is going ahead, in my eyes that's not too far away.

"Hopefully we come out of the back end of it all going well and it was a big success.

"The first six weeks (post-surgery) were in a sling and now we're almost at week 12 so starting to ramp things up again, looking to start batting again in the next couple of weeks. 

"It's looking really, really good. If anything, it's probably a little bit ahead of schedule, which is really promising.

"These things ebb and flow a little bit so to be where I am at 12 weeks is really positive."

Richardson is part of a Western Australian bowling attack that has endured its fair share of injuries.

Left-armers Jason Behrnedorff and Joel Paris have battled injury throughout their careers, while gun allrounder Cameron Green was unable to bowl for most of last season after suffering a second back stress fracture before Christmas.

While those players have been helping Richardson during rehab, he says the entire WACA 'family' has been "incredibly supportive".

"We speak about WACA family so highly and it honestly is like a family – everyone's got your back, there's never going to be anyone at the WACA that's going to be against you, regardless of what your discipline is and we're so thankful of that," Richardson said.

"The physios, the doctors, the coaches – (head coach Adam) Voges has been outstanding, really understanding.

"As have the more senior guys, like 'Dorff' (Behrendorff) and Joel Paris, because he's had his fair share of injuries.

"They're all so understanding and they know how demoralising rehab can be so everyone. That's no word of a lie, everyone's been incredibly supportive."

When he was on the field last summer, Richardson collected 15 wickets for the Scorchers, the equal most for the club alongside leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed and overseas recruit Chris Jordan.

While the Scorchers finished in sixth place to narrowly miss the finals, Richardson says his game developed in leaps and bounds due to the impact of the experienced Jordan, a veteran of 192 T20s.

Image Id: 38A76949DDC4479F9260E03327301A4D Image Caption: Jordan had a big impact on Richardson's development // Getty

"To have him at the Scorchers, that wealth of experience, to have him at mid-on or mid-off was definitely a big step in why there was a lot of improvement," he said.  

"He was really good at reassurance and he helped with a lot of clarity on the field, especially for our young bowlers.

"He's been around for a while, he knows his stuff, he's played a lot of T20 cricket, so experience from him was a big factor in my improvement."

Richardson says while he wants to eventually return to the Australian side, the ultimate aim of higher honours will not come at the expense of enjoying his cricket. 

"It's always the goal but I had an amazing conversation with 'Vogesy' last year walking around the WACA," Richardson said. 

"It was the first Shield game of the year and he said, 'mate, you are trying so hard it just looks like you're desperate to be picked and if I'm honest that's probably not the way you are going to get picked'.

"He pulled me aside to explain and reiterate the importance of having fun playing cricket.

"For me, when I do get back to playing cricket, it's not going to be about trying to get picked for Australia's. It's about trying to have fun, enjoying myself, doing what I can for the team and if that means I perform hopefully getting picked for Australia works itself out that way."