Boult joins Southee on sideline
Black Caps pace bowling spearhead Trent Boult has been ruled out of the third test against South Africa.
Left-arm seamer Boult failed to recover in time from the groin injury that forced him out of the second test, won by the Proteas in Wellington last weekend. The news came just a day after newball partner Tim Southee was also scratched from the tourending test with a hamstring injury.
NZ Cricket named Northern Districts all-rounder Scott Kuggeleijn as injury cover for Boult for the third test, starting in Hamilton on Saturday. Kuggeleijn made himself unavailable for national team selection earlier this year as he stood trial accused of rape. He was found not guilty.
Young quick Lockie Ferguson was not considered after suffering an injury in the current round of the Plunket Shield.
New Zealand selector Gavin Larsen said that while Boult had worked hard to make himself available for the third test, it was clear he needed further recovery time.
‘‘Trent did everything possible to get himself ready for this test and is extremely disappointed to be missing out. While he has made good progress, after training yesterday we spoke with medical staff and it was agreed that Trent required a little further time to be ready for the demands of test cricket.
‘‘Scott will come in as cover having consistently finished as one of the top wicket-takers in the Plunket Shield in recent seasons.
‘‘Not having Trent or Tim available tests the depth of our squad, but we’re confident of the job that Neil and Matt can do for us.’’
This was a vote of confidence in Neil Wagner and Matt Henry to be the frontline seam duo for the match. The Black Caps were also expected to play two specialist spinners in Jeetan Patel and Mitchell Santner.
The mystery of what the pitch will produce will continue to present problems of picking a side right up until the toss, with Santner’s inclusion – likely at the expense of Colin de Grandhomme – maybe the most likely scenario.
Southee felt discomfort following the match at the Basin Reserve and a scan revealed a minor tear; enough to sideline him.
It’s a setback for a side that needs to win to level the ledger, but opener Jeet Raval is backing his colleagues to bounce back quickly.
While the Black Caps unravelled in a day in the capital, they certainly weren’t ‘‘unraval-ed’’. The left-hander, who made his test debut last November, has scored 168 runs in three innings this series at an average of 56 – only opposition opener Dean Elgar has contributed more runs – and his tight technique has served him well, with a dose of good fortune also aiding him.
What shouldn’t be forgotten in the fallout from the second test stumble is that New Zealand had battled South Africa on an even keel this series until a disastrous day three in Wellington. So Raval was able to see there was some brightness among the lingering gloom.
‘‘There’s been a fair bit of reflection over the last test, but all-in-all we have learned from our mistakes and we’re looking forward to the next five days here and rectifying our errors,’’ Raval said. ‘‘We don’t need to change a whole lot of things – it’s about being better for long periods of time. As we’ve shown in the first test – and bits of the second test – we were good enough; we just need to be good enough for long periods of time. If we can do that, we’ll be able to square the series.’’