Brisbane Heat legend Jess Jonassen will miss the Weber Women’s Big Bash League that gets underway later this week.
JONASSEN TO MISS WBBL| Ruled Out For Competition
Jonassen has been battling a hip complaint, and Brisbane Heat medical advice is that she miss the WBBL with a view to being fit to return to play by the New Year.
The Heat are currently in negotiations to replace her in the Brisbane squad with an international player, with an announcement expected prior to the opening game on Friday night against the Sydney Sixers at Allan Border Field.
Jonassen said she was ‘bitterly disappointed’ to have her season disrupted by injury for the second year in a row after requiring shoulder surgery part-way through the WBBL last summer.
“Last year I was managing a shoulder injury and tried to play through until it got too much for me and was having an effect on both my own and the team’s performances, as well as my mental health,’’ she said.
“We considered whether playing through injury was available again, but the advice was to have this period of recovery now, so I can be available of the rest of the season.
“The plan is to be back training in December and be ready to play again in our next WNCL fixture,” Jonassen said.
Brisbane Heat coach Mark Sorell said the team would support Jonassen while she recovered and hoped to take advantage of her big game experience from the sidelines.
“We’re obviously pretty devastated for JJ,’’ he said.
“She has a good attitude to these sorts of things and naturally we’ll wrap our arms around her this week as we get ready to play.”
“We’ll lean into her experience around the group while she recovers and it will be a good chance for us to work with her around our match day planning,’’ he said.
Jonassen is the most capped player in WBBL history, as well as for the Brisbane Heat club, and leading Big Bash wicket-taker across men’s and women’s competitions.
In an international playing career that has spanned 11 years, she has played six Tests, 93 One Day Internationals and 105 T20 Internationals for Australia.
The Heat announced their 15th and final squad signing earlier today with pace bowler Catherine White confirmed.
Brisbane will hold an opening training session for Heat members on Wednesday evening at Allan Border Field and will finalise their first match day selection on Thursday.
Tickets are on sale for Friday night’s game through Heat.com.au and Ticketek.com.au