Former Test keeper Tim Paine will confront another mental hurdle when he faces Dirk Nannes for the first time since the paceman shattered his finger.
Paine hasn’t batted against Nannes since the former Victorian left-armer struck him with a 148km/h thunderbolt during a Twenty20 All Stars match at the Gabba in November 2010.
The blow proved career-defining, with Brad Haddin’s heir apparent forced to undergo at least five operations and miss the best part of two seasons.
Paine has finally returned for Tasmania and the Hobart Hurricanes this summer and will come up against Nannes in Sunday afternoon’s Big Bash League (BBL) clash with the Sydney Thunder at Bellerive.
The 36-year-old quick is still considered one of the short form’s best bowlers and has the impressive figures of 4-17, 1-20 and 0-16 from his three BBL appearances.
Paine has made steady progress in 2012/13 without piling on the runs and has BBL scores of 28, 46 and seven.
Hurricanes’ skipper George Bailey said the 28-year-old would not be dwelling on his unlucky blow.
“It’s not something that we’ve spoken about – it’s not something that Painey’s spoken about,” Bailey told reporters on Saturday.
“I think it was a pretty freak accident, that first time it happened.
“I’m not sure it will be too fresh in anyone’s mind.”
Paine’s combination at the top of the order with champion Ricky Ponting will be crucial as the Hurricanes look to improve on poor batting displays in their two losses.
Ponting has scores of eight and 25 from his two outings and will play his first Hurricanes game at Bellerive on Sunday.
“We’ve obviously got him for the tournament so I don’t think we keep using it as a boost every time he plays for us now,” Bailey said.
“He’s just part of the team.
“He’s got a job to do at the top of the order and we want him to be scoring runs and contributing match-winning innings for us and that’s the same for all the batters.”
The seventh-placed Hurricanes (1-2) have made one change to their squad, promoting Aiden Blizzard for Jon Wells in their 13-man squad.
The last-placed Thunder (0-3) have named an unchanged 13.
Following criticism of crowds for the first Test against Sri Lanka, Hobart is set to again throw its support behind the Hurricanes with 10,000 tickets having been pre-sold.
Hurricanes: (from) George Bailey (capt), Tim Paine, Doug Bollinger, Travis Birt, Aiden Blizzard, Xavier Doherty, Evan Gulbis, Michael Hogan, Jason Krejza, Ben Laughlin, Ricky Ponting, Owais Shah, Scott Styris.
Thunder: (from) Chris Rogers (capt), Sean Abbott, Cameron Borgas, Ryan Carters, Mark Cosgrove, Scott Coyte, Luke Doran, Chris Gayle, Simon Keen, Azhar Mahmood, Dirk Nannes, Chris Tremain, Adam Zampa.