New Zealand pacer Tim Southee fractured a bone in his right thumb while dropping a catch during the fourth ODI against England on Friday and remains doubtful for the upcoming World Cup 2023 in India.
Tim Southee fractures bone in right thumb
The incident happened during the 14th over of England’s innings where Joe Root who was batting at 8, edged the final ball of the over to Southee who was fielding at a slightly wide first slip position and the latter copped the blow straight onto his thumb.
“An x-ray has confirmed that Tim Southee dislocated and fractured a bone in his right thumb while attempting to take a catch in the 14th over of the 1st innings. A timeline for his recovery will be established tomorrow when he undergoes further assessment”, NZC said in a statement.
The right-arm pacer left the field immediately after appearing in extreme discomfort and didn’t take any further part in the game and the team management chose to substitute him with Trent Boult.
New Zealand cricket team who were in need of winning the game, lost the final ODI of the series by 100 runs where England won the four-match series by a comprehensive 3-1 margin.
Tom Latham, New Zealand’s stand-in captain for the series, added, “It’s not ideal for Timmy. He’s a massive leader amongst the group and obviously, he’ll be assessed over the coming days when we get back home to see how bad it is, but we do have a bit of time leading into those first couple of games, so we’ll know more over the next couple of days”.
“He’s a pretty resilient character, so I’m sure he’ll be doing all he can to be on the plane, ready for that first game. But it’s hard to know at this point what the timeframe will be. Once he gets home and has a few more scans, we’ll know the extent of what’s going on”, he added.
As per the New Zealand ODI World Cup Schedule 2023, the Blackcaps will play their first game of the tournament against England on October 5 in Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
