New Zealand on Thursday suffered a massive setback after pacer Matt Henry and batter Glenn Phillips were ruled out of the third test against England at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham due to injuries. The two sides are levelled at 1-1 in the series.
While 34-year-old Henry was ruled out due to a calf injury, 29-year-old Phillips won’t be playing the game because of a side strain. The duo had played a crucial role in New Zealand’s victory against England in the second test at the Oval in London. Notably, both had suffered their injuries during that game only.
For the third test, the Kiwis made three changes, fielding Mitch Santner, Ben Sears and Blair Tickner, as Kyle Jamieson was rested by the management, said skipper Tom Latham during the toss.
“We’ve got a reasonably experienced campaigner coming back in, Mitch, who has played a decent amount of Test cricket, but also played a lot of cricket throughout his career. And hopefully he can make use of the surface [at] the back end of the game,” Latham said when asked about Phillips.
“I guess someone who brings a lot of experience, but I think also his skill and workload that he brings to our side. He’s a leader amongst the group, and unfortunately we’ll be missing him this week, but fingers crossed he can get himself right,” he said on Henry.
Henry was the star of New Zealand’s 253-run win in the second test, as he picked 11 wickets in the game. For his performance, he was given the man of the match award. Phillips played an equally important role, scoring a solid 100 off just 135 balls in New Zealand’s first innings, helping the Kiwis put up 391 runs in their first innings. Their exploits helped New Zealand register a thumping victory, levelling the series at 1-1, with one game to go.
Playing XIs:
New Zealand: Tom Latham(c), Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell(w), Mitchell Santner, Nathan Smith, Blair Tickner, Ben Sears and William ORourke.
England: Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith(w), Ben Stokes(c), Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir.
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