New Zealand suffered a huge blow as captain Kane Williamson, who made his comeback to international cricket in the recent ODI World Cup 2023 match against Bangladesh, suffered a fracture.
Williamson made his comeback to the New Zealand team after spending six months on the sidelines after rupturing his ACL in the first match of the IPL 2023 for Gujarat Titans. He underwent surgery to rectify the same. He slowly returned to the nets and was named in the New Zealand World Cup squad.
He played in both warmup matches for New Zealand and scored half-centuries. But Tom Latham captained the New Zealand side in the first two matches of the ICC World Cup 2023, which they won in dominating style.
Williamson had returned to the Kiwi side against Bangladesh and scored a brilliant half-century. However, he was struck on his left hand by an errant throw, which led to him retiring hurt after experiencing pain in the thumb while holding the bat.
Tom Blundell Called In As Cover As Kane Williamson Fractures Thumb
Meanwhile, a report has confirmed that an X-ray showed Kane Williamson suffering an undisplaced fracture to left thumb after he was struck by a throw while running between the wickets.
Williamson will remain in the New Zealand squad for the World Cup 2023 with the aim of being available for the back end of pool play next month. Tom Blundell will travel to India as cover but will not officially be part of the squad, while Williamson rehabilitates the injury.
“Firstly, we’re all feeling for Kane to have this occur after all his hard work to return from his knee injury. While it’s disappointing news, the initial diagnosis has given us some optimism he can still feature later in the pool play following a period of rest and rehabilitation. Kane is clearly a massive part of our side and a world class player and captain – so we’ll look to give him every opportunity we can to return in the tournament,” NZ coach Gary Stead told nzc.nz.
Stead said Blundell’s versatility saw him selected to join the squad as cover, while Henry Nicholls wasn’t considered after suffering a mild side strain.
“Tom’s been with the one-day side on tours to Pakistan and Bangladesh and performed well. He covers multiple positions in the batting order and his wicket-keeping skills are also an added bonus as a back-up,” he added.
New Zealand next face Afghanistan in Chennai on Wednesday.