First ball of season breaks Ellis’ hand
Canterbury cricket captain Andrew Ellis has endured a rough start to the summer, breaking a bone in his hand facing his first delivery of the season.
Ellis’ left hand is in plaster and he looks set to miss at least the Plunket Shield opener against Otago at Hagley Oval, starting on October 23.
The veteran all-rounder broke a carpal bone (one of the eight bones connecting the hand to the forearm) playing a back of a length ball from Riccarton’s Trevor Garrett in a quad series pre-season clash at Hagley’s Nursery Ground last Sunday.
Ellis, who is on the verge of bringing up 100 first class matches for Canterbury (he’s played 97), could afford a wry chuckle knowing it was the first delivery he’d faced in a match this season.
‘‘It could be worse, though, it could be in the middle of the season. I’ve got to look for positives.
‘‘It will be a couple of weeks in plaster, then I’ll get a splint. It will be a case of working my way back.’’
The silver lining for Ellis, a right-hand batsman and right-arm seamer, is that it is his nondominant hand and will not affect his bowling.
Ellis said it was a matter of getting enough strength back in his left hand again, his top hand when batting. He planned to resume bowling later this week and was hopeful he would not miss too many Plunket Shield matches.
In January, Ellis played through a broken right thumb to help lead Canterbury to their first one-day title in 11 years.
Canterbury have been hit hard by injury to begin the summer with frontline quicks Kyle Jamieson (right foot) and Ed Nuttall (back stress fracture) set to be out until December.
Canterbury coach Gary Stead was philosophical about Ellis’ setback and expected him to probably be out ‘‘four to five weeks’’.
‘‘There’s no point crying over spilt milk. It’s happened so we’ve got to move on.
‘‘We’re just waiting to see how he heals. There’s lots they can do with splints and things.’’
Canterbury take on Otago in a four-day warm-up match at Alexandra’s Molyneux Park, starting on Tuesday.
With Nuttall and Jamieson sidelined and Black Cap Matt Henry on New Zealand A duty in India, the match will be an audition for fast bowling berths ahead of their Plunket Shield opener against the same opponent.
Quicks Will Williams, Nathan Mcnicol, Henry Shipley and Fraser Sheat are all contending for spots in the first-choice 11.
‘‘There’s going to be opportunities in Canterbury, we’ve said that right from the very start,’’ Stead said.
‘‘There will be opportunities for players this year. There’s lots to play for.’’
Lancaster Park left-arm spinner Theo van Woerkom, who has played two first class matches for Canterbury, has a chance to impress.
With Todd Astle on the fringe of the New Zealand squad, Stead said they were eager to keep growing depth in their spin stocks.
‘‘We think [Theo] is the leftarmer that’s most likely to play for us in Plunket Shield cricket at this stage [outside our contracted list].’’
"It could be worse, though, it could be in the middle of the season. I've got to look for positives." Andrew Ellis