Steve O'Keefe's bid to return to the Australian cricket fold has been dashed by an ankle injury which will rule him out for the rest of the Big Bash League season.
Scans confirmed this week that O'Keefe had avoided a broken leg when he was injured while fielding in the Sixers' narrow loss to Perth on Monday.
However, a high-grade syndesmosis injury meant he was still required to go under the knife as soon as Wednesday night, ruling him out for at least a month and the rest of the Twenty20 tournament.
"Steve will miss the BBL but is hopeful of returning during the second half of the Sheffield Shield season," Cricket NSW doctor John Orchard said.
The injury is a massive dash to the Sixers' hopes of climbing from the bottom of the BBL ladder, given they can barely afford another loss if they are to fight back into the semi-finals.
It also comes as another blow to the 33-year-old, who was last week overlooked for selection in Australia's Sydney Test squad after he featured at the ground for the past two years.
O'Keefe had been Australia's second spinning option behind Nathan Lyon until last year's Test tour of India, but has seemingly now lost that position to youngster Ashton Agar.
O'Keefe has also missed cricket to hand, calf and hamstring injuries in the past two years.
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