Shattered speedster Tayla Vlaeminck hopes to be back bowling by the end of the summer after being ruled out of a fourth straight WBBL.
Injured in last year's Twenty20 World Cup, Vlaeminck had eyed off a return from a dislocated shoulder in the Twenty20 tournament with the Melbourne Renegades.
But her recovery has not progressed in recent weeks, meaning she will miss the competition after last being fit to play in it in 2021-22.
Since then the Victorian quick has endured a horror run, including foot and knee issues.
"I'm obviously a little bit shattered about missing out," Vlaeminck said at Cricket Australia's Smash Series launch in Sydney on Saturday.
"Unfortunately my shoulder's just not loving bowling at the moment, so there's not much I can do about that.
"I think we were hoping that my shoulder would probably respond a little bit better to bowling than it has.
"We lined up Big Bash to be that end point.
"But just in the last four weeks trying to ramp that up, it just hasn't responded the way we thought it would."
Vlaeminck has long been regarded as one of the fastest bowlers in the world, but endured two ACL ruptures in her knee before making her Australia debut in 2018.
A foot injury ruled her out of the home Twenty20 World Cup in 2020, before she also missed two years of international cricket between 2022 and early 2024.
The 26-year-old then earned a spot in Australia's T20 World Cup squad, only to dislocate her shoulder trying to stop a boundary in the first over of her opening game.
That prompted the current 12-month injury lay-off, before the aborted return to this summer's WBBL.
"I probably didn't feel confident enough to be able to actually perform if I got out for the Renegades," Vlaeminck said.
"It's one thing to get out on the pitch and be back playing, but you actually have to back yourself in to be able to perform and do well for a team.
"I just like to consider myself pretty lucky that Cricket Australia have stuck by me throughout this whole thing.
"I've got heaps of support, and hopefully over the next four to six weeks I'll be able to continue to work on it and see how we go for the back end of the season."
