Skipper plagued by rare injury
Williamson in doubt for final test thanks to a highly unusual pectoral muscle tear
Kane Williamson has suffered an incredibly rare injury — but the Black Caps are hopeful there’s no reason to be alarmed.
Williamson did not field in Bangladesh’s second innings, after injuring his left shoulder diving in the field in the first innings. He was in pain while batting and scans revealed he had suffered a grade one tear to his left pectoral minor muscle.
“It’s a pretty rare injury — they’ve only seen, I think, five in the world before,” said Black Caps coach Gary Stead. “I know the physio staff were saying ‘we’ll make this a case study’ because it is so rare.”
That may create uncertainty about how to heal the injury but Stead is optimistic his captain will have a simple recovery.
“It’s very minor but we’re hopeful he will recover quickly.
“Kane’s managed his way through injuries before, he’s had niggles all the time, and he seems to find a way through. The extent of this and the unknown of this were the things we were unsure about, but hopefully, he’ll get through that fine.
“It’s like any muscle, there’s obviously irritation and a wee bit of bleeding. It’s not a major injury, so we’re hopeful in a short period of time, he will be back to full noise.”
‘Hopeful’ might be the key word, and while Williamson is set to travel with the team to Christchurch for the final test, Stead indicated his skipper will play only if completely fit.
“The thing for us over the next 48 to 72 hours is just to make sure he doesn’t aggravate it any more.
“If he’s fit, no player wants to give up their spot in the test team. But I think it’s safe to say we will probably err on the conservative side, and if there’s any chance of risk, then we’re likely to pull him from that game.”
While the World Cup in May is an obvious focus, Williamson still has the lucrative Twenty20 Indian Premier League to worry about, with the 28-year-old set to link up later this month with the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Stead is confident Williamson will be fit in time but stressed New Zealand Cricket won’t let the Indian franchise take any risks with their star batsman ahead of the World Cup.
“From what I’ve been speaking with the physio and Kane about, if things progress as we hope, going to the IPL shouldn’t be a problem.”
Will Young will make his international debut in Christchurch if Williamson is ruled out.
Atest victory may be the hardest achievement in cricket, but for the Black Caps right now, it’s as easy as one, two, three. The Black Caps needed just three days to wrap up an innings and 12 run victory over Bangladesh at the Basin Reserve yesterday, clinching their fifth straight series win and extending their record run.
On the surface, a routine test win over an understrength Bangladesh side doesn’t overwhelm but the nature of this victory will be pleasing for a Black Caps side that has barely put a foot wrong in tests recently.
After the first two days of the test were washed out, the Black Caps were left with the unenviable task of trying to manufacture a victory in a three-day test — something they hadn’t needed to do since 2001.
But, just as they did 18 years ago, New Zealand had few problems with the tricky task, requiring just 201.5 overs to wrap up yet another test series victory, and lock in second spot on the test rankings at season’s end.
After storming ahead with powerful batting on Monday, the Black Caps rolled Bangladesh for 209 before lunch on day five. Stand-in captain Tim Southee praised the batsmen.
“The way the batters set it up — you sit there at the start of the day and you hope days go as well as that.
“With the amount of time lost through rain, a lot of people probably thought it was going to be tough to win a test inside three days, but we knew there was always going to be a little bit of assistance in the wicket and the batters need a lot of credit for the way they put us in such a strong position, that we only needed to bat once. That was the backbone of another test win for us.”
The Black Caps managed to end Bangladesh’s resistance without BJ Watling or Kane Williamson, with the experienced pair sitting out the final day with a hamstring strain and pectoral injury respectively, but all that was needed to set up victory was the short ball barrage of Neil Wagner.
Resuming at 80-3, two early partnerships from Bangladesh had threatened to frustrate the hosts. But, after Trent Boult removed Soumya Sarkar, Wagner ensured there would be no repeats of their wait for victory in Hamilton, snaring three scalps in the span of three overs.
One short ball saw Mohammad Mithun scoop a catch to Southee at leg gully, another lured Liton Das into an inadvisable hook shot, and one more saw Taijul Islam pop up the easiest of catches to Tom Latham at silly point. With Bangladesh’s tail incapable of fight, some sloppy slogging resulted. Mahmudullah ran out of partners on his way to 67, while Mustafizur Rahman had some fun before Boult (4-52) removed his middle stump for 16.
Wagner finished things off, earning his seventh test five-wicket bag and nine wickets for the match by bowling Ebadot Hossain. It sealed an unlikely victory — remarkably with two sessions to spare — and an unassailable 2-0 series lead.
Bangladesh have one last chance to salvage something in the third test in Christchurch, but the Black Caps will be at short odds to complete a superb series, and cap off a stellar season.