Australia men’s team coach Andrew McDonald concedes the national selection panel (of which he is a member) had not worked out who might replace Matthew Kuhnemann if the spinner’s recent thumb injury had forced him out of the current Sri Lanka tour.
Kuhnemann starred in his first Test outing for almost two years, claiming nine wickets in Australia’s record-setting win by an innings and 242 runs in the first game of the two-match series at Galle.
But the 28-year-old achieved the best match figures of his four Tests to date while also nursing a compound fracture of his right thumb courtesy of a fielding mishap while playing for Brisbane Heat in the BBL just over a fortnight ago.
After undergoing surgery in Brisbane where two metal ‘nails’ were inserted to stabilise the damaged joint, Kuhnemann joined Australia’s Test squad in Sri Lanka and proved his fitness to the amazement of teammates and their coach.
“I thought he was gone,” McDonald said in the aftermath of Australia’s biggest Test win in Asia, and the fourth-largest in the men’s team’s history.