West Australia young gun cleared to resume running after back stress injury derailed his summer
Emerging speedster Mahli Beardman is taking inspiration from Pat Cummins’ injury resilience as the West Australian prepares to return to training following his own back injury.
Beardman has been sidelined since making his international debut in January after being diagnosed with lumbar bone stress, a similar injury to the one that limited the nation’s men’s skipper to one Ashes Test last summer.
The 20-year-old said on Monday he’d recently been given the green light to resume running after a scan five months on from the injury confirmed the bone had healed.
“I’m fully recovered now,” Beardman said at a press event in Perth to mark the release of tickets for the Australian international summer.
“I’ve been back in the gym three to four days a week (for my) rehab.
“It’ll be a 10- to 12-week gradual build up (to bowling) again. I’ll do trunk loading in the gym to get my body ready again and prepped to bowl, and I start to run today.
“There will be a good two to three weeks of running before I start doing some technical work in the nets, and then that 10- to 12-week build up before I’m back off the full run and ready to go.”
Like Beardman, Cummins endured a disjointed start to his international career.
He suffered a stress fracture to his heel during a memorable Test debut where he took six second innings wickets and then hit the winning runs to beat South Africa in Johannesburg in 2011.
While he made infrequent white-ball appearances in the ensuing years, including two games during Australia’s 2015 ODI World Cup triumph, more than five years passed before Cummins played another Test as he battled repeated stress fractures in his lower back.
However, Cummins emerged from those years of pain and rehab as an extremely resilient and world-class fast bowler, who until last summer, hardly missed another Test through injury.
Beardman hopes his early-career setbacks aren’t as extensive as his idol’s, but he believes the country’s next generation of quicks are undoubtedly better placed because of Cummins’ perseverance.
“Pat had a few more (injuries) than what I’ve had, so fingers crossed I can steer clear of five or six ‘stressies’, but he’s been so incredible for Australia … and someone that I’ve grown up watching and idolising,” Beardman said.
“To have a similar sort of path early doors of repeat back injuries or repeat back stress injuries, and then to (see him) be able to overcome those and still have a solid career and work through adversity is something that I think a lot of young athletes, not just cricketers, take inspiration from.”
Beardman’s latest back injury cut short a breakout season for the right-armer from the Margaret River region, who took 13 wickets to lead the Perth Scorchers’ fast bowlers in BBL|15, and then impressed with 2-33 on T20I debut against Pakistan.
He was due to play in the second match of that series but was a late withdrawal after experiencing lower back soreness in the warm-up.
“The main priority now is just playing cricket,” Beardman said. “Getting back and enjoying the contest again, which is something I missed having an extended period away.
“I’m working super hard at the moment to try and get everything right to get back bowling, but it’s also a fine line, I don’t want to rush things too much and have a relapse with another injury, or have my back go again.
“I’ll be working closely with the Sports Science and Sport Medicine staff and all the coaches to make the right decisions and keep moving forward.
“The focus at the moment is just playing good cricket for WA and the Scorchers in the Big Bash. From there, if an opportunity arises for higher honours, then I’ll try and take that with both hands.”
The former Australia Under-19 World Cup winner has been carefully managed during the early stages of his career given his history of back injuries as a teenager. He has been contracted by WA for the past three seasons but is yet to make his first-class debut.
He’s hopeful that may change when he returns during the coming season, with a big focus of his current training regime to ensure his body can stand up to the rigours of four-day cricket.
“I’m pretty proud of the work that I’ve been able to put in over past few months, so hopefully this is a solid foundation, and I can keep moving forward off the back of this block,” Beardman said.
