Former India coach Gary Kirsten suffered a cracked jaw after he was hit by Hobart Hurricanes batsman D’Arcy Short during practice on Saturday, cricket.com.au reported.
Kirsten did not require surgery but needed immediate medical attention to fix his broken teeth. He was spotted with heavy swelling around his mouth on Monday during his side’s encounter with Brisbane Heat.
Kirsten was giving Short throw-downs and the in-form batsman smashed one back that led to the injury.
“It was wet, so we were in the indoor centre. Darce just whacked one back at him that he didn’t pick up in time,” said Hurricanes skipper George Bailey was quoted as saying.
“He (Short) is hitting the ball pretty cleanly and hard at the moment. It was a bit messy. (Kirsten) has actually come out of it very luckily in the big scheme of things. He said that he’s probably been a blase about that over the years. It’s obviously prompted (a change) - everyone has had (helmets) on since,” he added.
However, the incident did not bother Short who powered Hurricanes to another victory. In the process, he became BBL’s leading run scorer in a season with 465 runs from seven innings.
“The really pleasing thing - his ball striking has always been phenomenal, it was last year as well - but now you can really see the structure he’s putting into his innings. He’s just hitting the ball where it needs to go, that’s the most pleasing thing from our end. It’s phenomenal to see. No doubt he’s going to be wearing some Australian colours soon in at least one format, but most probably two I reckon. I’m sure they’ll be looking hard at him. He’s a no brainer for the T20s, isn’t he?” said Bailey.