New Zealand has suffered yet another injury blow after fast bowler Matt Henry broke his left thumb on day one of the third Domain Test in Sydney. But he will continue to bowl depending on the state of the match.
He sustained the injury to his non-bowling hand in the 11th over on Friday morning when he attempted to field a straight drive from Joe Burns off his own bowling. Blood was seen gushing from underneath the nail.
He completed the over then left the field, but returned to bowl another 15 overs on the day.
An x-ray after play revealed a fracture. Henry is playing his first Test of the series, in place of Tim Southee, who has been rested due to heavy workload. “We just felt that we wanted a little more pace out there, what Matt Henry offers over Tim,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said last night.
“And being the workload that Tim has had not just in the last two Tests but if you put the last four together, it’s somewhere around 200 overs in a short period of time, just felt that what Matt offered would have given us a point of difference.”
Henry’s injury is the latest of a long list of woes for the Black Caps. In the series opener in Perth, Lockie Ferguson broke down with a calf strain after bowling just 11 overs and returned home. In the following Test at the MCG, Trent Boult suffered a fractured finger after copping a bouncer on the glove. Then, captain Kane Williamson, middle-order batter Henry Nicholls and left-arm spinner Mitch Santner were ruled out of the SCG Test with illness.
Australia squad: David Warner, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Travis Head, Tim Paine (c, wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Michael Neser, Mitchell Swepson
New Zealand: Todd Astle, Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Glenn Phillips, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson (c)
