Bulawayo, Aug 6 New Zealand have suffered another injury blow, as the pace bowler Will O’Rourke has been ruled out of the second Test against Zimbabwe with a back injury, New Zealand Cricket said on Wednesday.
O’Rourke experienced back stiffness on day three of the New Zealand’s nine-wicket win in the first Test last week after taking three for 28 from his 10 overs in the second innings.
NZC said O’Rourke has been sent home to undergo further assessment. Left-arm seamer Ben Lister, who was called in to provide additional pace-bowling cover, will remain with the squad for the series and could be in contention to win a Test debut for the second and final Test of the series that commences on Thursday.
The right-armer is the second pace bowler that won’t feature in the second Test because of injury after all-rounder Nathan Smith, who sustained the injury while batting on day two of the first Test in Bulawayo, and a subsequent MRI has confirmed an abdominal strain which will require approximately two to four weeks recovery.
Earlier, Test captain Tom Latham was ruled out of the first Test with a shoulder injury but reamained with the squad with the hope he will be fit for the second Test.
White-ball captain Mitch Santner led the team in the first Test, becoming New Zealand’s 32nd men’s Test captain.
Ahead of the Zimababwe tour, batting allrounder Glenn Phillips withdrawn from the tour after injuring his right groin during the Major League Cricket (MLC) final. Bracewell, who was not considered in the original squad due to his commitments with The Hundred overlapping with the two-Test series in Bulawayo, had replaced Phillips in the squad.
New Zealand squad: Mitchell Santner (c), Tom Blundell, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Matthew Fisher, Zakary Foulkes, Matt Henry, Ben Lister, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra, Will Young
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