New Zealand pacer Matt Henry is the latest casualty when it comes to the cancellation of county contracts. Henry’s stint with Kent has been canceled on a mutual note due to the coronavirus outbreak. The seamer had bagged 75 wickets from 11 matches in the 2018 season at Canterbury.
Matt Henry will not return to Kent
The first seven rounds of the Country Championship fixtures were suspended earlier last month. No competitive cricket will take place in England and Wales till May 28. Earlier, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, and Surrey made a similar move. Nathan Lyon, Cheteshwar Pujara, Michael Neser lost out on potential contracts with the respective clubs.
“Once the decision was announced by the ECB that there would be no cricket until at least the end of May it became inevitable the Matt would not be returning to Kent this season.” said Kent’s director of cricket Paul Downton.
“We’d like to thank Matt for his understanding in difficult circumstances. Hopefully, another opportunity will arise in the near future which will allow him to join us once again.” he added.
The 28-year-old speedster has played 12 Test matches and 58 white-ball games for the Blackcaps. He was a key player for New Zealand in their 2019 World Cup campaign, picking up 14 wickets in the competition. He floored the Indian batting order in the all-important semi-finals in Manchester.
Henry bagged figures of 3/37 including the prized wicket of in-form Rohit Sharma. India went on to lose the match as the Kiwis advanced to their second consecutive finale at the marquee event. However, they yet again lost the host nation- this time against England in a dramatic finale at Lord’s.