Former Australian Test wicketkeeper Peter Nevill will return to Sydney for further scans to determine the exact nature of Monday night’s freak injury. Initial scans have left Melbourne Renegades officials unsure as to whether Nevill has suffered a hairline fracture to his jaw as a result of Brad Hodge’s bat colliding with him, or if it is instead a burst blood vessel.

Regardless, the Renegades will continue to monitor his progress in conjuction with Cricket NSW before making a call on his fitness later this week. However, it is unlikely he will play again in this summer’s Big Bash League.

“Peter is doing well,” Renegades physio Nick Adcock said. “Initial scans were inconclusive as to whether there is a hairline fracture or whether swelling was due to a burst blood vessel. Peter will have further reviews with specialists and scans in Sydney this week and pending these follow-ups, we expect he will make a quick recovery.”

The 31-year-old was felled by the blow in the Renegades’ six-wicket win over Adelaide, and had to be helped from the field with a significantly swollen right-side of his face. He was taken straight from the Adelaide Oval to hospital for x-rays.

Nevill was standing far back from the stumps when hit by a bat which slipped from the hands of the Strikers captain. He was following the path of the ball into the outfield when the bat handle struck the right side of his face.

The incident happened the ball after Hodge swapped into new batting gloves. “If you have brand new gloves they have got like this powdery feel to it and it [the bat] just slipped straight out of my hands,” Hodge said. “I have never seen anything like it at all. I have seen things where bats have gone flying but never hit anyone.”

The incident has likely left the Renegades without a wicketkeeper for their must-win clash with Brisbane on Friday night, with coach Andrew McDonald conceding they may again have to throw the gloves to captain Aaron Finch.



“We haven’t got many other options at the moment,” McDonald said. “It will be about tomorrow sitting down and trying to see if there are any keepers out there. We’ve seen a lot of list changes this season and there’s been a lot of players involved in the Big Bash so there may not be a lot out there.”