Kane Williamson injures thumb, ruled out of NZ's next 3 WC games

Chennai, Oct 14 (PTI) Skipper Kane Williamson was on Saturday ruled out of New Zealand's next three World Cup matches, including the India game, at the least after fracturing his thumb while running between the wickets against Bangladesh here.

The game against Bangladesh on Friday night was Williamson's first international outing in more than six months following his recovery from an ACL injury that he suffered in the IPL in March. He retired hurt after a well-made 78 at Chepauk.

But a stroke of sheer bad luck has made Williamson unavailable for the games against Afghanistan here on October 18, India in Dharamsala on October 22 and South Africa in Pune on October 28.

His comeback for the remaining three league games in November will depend on how fast he recovers.

"An X-ray has confirmed an undisplaced fracture to Kane Williamson’s left thumb, after he was struck by a throw while running between the wickets in Friday’s match against Bangladesh in Chennai," said New Zealand Cricket in a statement.

"Williamson will remain in the BLACKCAPS ICC Cricket World Cup squad with the aim of being available for the back end of pool play next month." Tom Blundell will travel to India as cover but will not officially be part of the squad, while Williamson enters the rehabilitation phase.

Meanwhile, Coach Gary Stead sounded hopeful of Williamson playing further part in the tournament.

“Firstly, we’re all feeling for Kane to have this occur after all his hard work to return from his knee injury,” Stead said.

“While it’s disappointing news, the initial diagnosis has given us some optimism he can still feature later in the pool play following a period of rest and rehabilitation.

“Kane is clearly a massive part of our side and a world class player and captain - so we’ll look to give him every opportunity we can to return in the tournament.” Stead said Blundell’s versatility saw him selected to join the squad as cover, while Henry Nicholls wasn’t considered after suffering a mild side-strain during Canterbury’s Plunket Shield warm-up match against Otago during the week.

“Tom’s been with the one-day side on tours to Pakistan and Bangladesh and performed well,” he said.

“He covers multiple positions in the batting order and his wicket-keeping skills are also an added bonus as a back-up.” PTI BS UNG