The Black Caps will decide whether senior pace-bowler Tim Southee will be available for next month’s ODI Cricket World Cup in India.
Meanwhile, former Black Caps captain Kane Williamson has provided some insight into his recovery from an ACL injury in April.
The team announced he will undergo surgery on the thumb he dislocated and fractured in the Black Caps final ODI against England on Saturday.
A decision on his availability for the World Cup would be made early next week once the results of the surgery were known but in a statement, coach Gary Stead remained hopeful he would recover in time.
“We’ve got our fingers crossed the surgery goes well for Tim,” Stead said.
“He’ll have some pins or screws inserted in his right thumb and, providing the procedure is a success, it will be a matter of ensuring Tim can tolerate the pain and manage the actual wound when returning to train and play. Our opening game of the World Cup against England is not until Thursday, October 5 in Ahmedabad, so that would be our logical target in terms of his availability.
“Tim’s obviously a hugely experienced and important figure in our team and we want to give him every chance to be part of this World Cup campaign.”
The Black Caps will play two tournament warm-up matches starting with Pakistan in Hyderabad on September 29, followed by a meeting with South Africa in Trivandrum on October 2.
The New Zealand-based World Cup players not on the current tour of Bangladesh will depart to India from next Tuesday.
England beat New Zealand by 100 runs in the fourth match of the series to complete a 3-1 win on Saturday, In the teams’ first ODI meeting at Lord’s, the home of cricket, since that epic 2019 World Cup final.
With Ben Stokes rested, Dawid Malan took up the mantle of England’s power hitter by smashing 127 off 114 balls in the team’s total of 311-9.
New Zealand was dismissed for 211 after 38.2 overs and lost the last three matches of the series, having opened it with an eight-wicket victory in Cardiff last week. Tim Southee didn’t bat after breaking his thumb in the field.
The teams will next meet in the 50-over format in Ahmedabad on Oct 5 in the opening game of the World Cup, when the English will be defending the title they clinched in that dramatic Super Over four years ago.
Speaking on TalkSPORT’s Following On Podcast, Williamson revealed there was “still a bit of work to go” on his road to recovery.
The 33-year-old injured his knee and suffered an ACL injury while playing for the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League on April 2. He his hopeful to return to the Black Caps squad for the World Cup.
“I’ve had a very good team around me and I suppose as a professional sportsperson if you’re injured there’s not much else to do except trying to get back on the park.
”So the motivation is certainly there and, also up until, well, at the moment, [I’ve] been relatively fortunate in terms of not too many big setbacks on that road to recovery.
”It’s been a week-by-week, day-by-day process. It’s really exciting to be in a position to be selected in the squad for the World Cup.”
Luke Kirkness is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He previously covered consumer affairs for the Herald and was an assistant news director in the Bay of Plenty. He won Student Journalist of the Year in 2019.