New Zealand have suffered another huge blow before their tough tour of India as one of their front-line bowlers, Mitchell McClenaghan has been ruled out of the tour with a pelvis injury. Just a couple of days ago New Zealand national selector and former Kiwi bowler Gavin Larsen also ruled out Adam Milne for the limited-overs series against India.
The news was confirmed by a New Zealand Cricket (NZC) spokesperson to stuff.co.nz on Thursday (September 8). The left-arm pacer, who has taken 82 ODI wickets in 48 matches, played four matches for the Black Caps at the World T20 in India earlier this year, but is yet to play a one-day international since suffering a fracture to his left eye socket after being hit by a Anwar Ali bouncer while batting against Pakistan in Wellington on January 25. The pacer had metal plates installed in his skull four days later after the dangerous incident.
With McClenaghan and Milne effectively out of the series, the New Zealand team is likely to force the selectors into keeping Doug Bracewell with the team after the conclusion of the Test series. But the New Zealand team would not be too worried about the situation as even after the latest setbacks, they still have a good pace attack with the likes of Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Matt Henry and James Neesham. Apart from that, all-rounder Corey Anderson is also expected to be fit in time to play against India and he can be a useful bowler in the Indian pitches.
“We will monitor Corey like we’ll watch everyone and assess where he is at after those games,” Larsen said. “It is the bowling obviously we are very keen to see Corey keep progressing in, to be getting back to being selectable as a genuine all-rounder. We are trying to get that on track as quick as possible.”
The five-match ODI series will start on October 16 at Dharamsala.