Dublin: New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne has been ruled out of the remainder of the team’s European tour with an Achilles injury. Milne felt pain in his left Achilles tendon during the team’s first net session in Ireland and a scan this week revealed he would need some rest and rehabilitation.
The recovery timeline for the injury means the newly contracted Wellington Firebird will likely only be available for the final two matches of the tour against the Netherlands. Milne will leave Ireland on Saturday to start his rehabilitation programme.
“We’re naturally disappointed for Adam. He’s a great character in any team and I am sure he’ll apply his strong will to this next phase of rehabilitation. There is still a lot of cricket to come this year including the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia, and Adam is determined to make himself available to be part of that selection picture,” said coach Shane Jurgensen.
With extra bowling cover needed in the squad for the remainder of the tour, the selectors felt Jacob Duffy was deserving of selection and that he had been impressive in his time away with the Test and ODI squads in England and Ireland respectively.
“We’re backing Jacob to step up. He’s made an exciting start to his white-ball international career. He’s an established performer in our Dream11 Super Smash and showed on T20I debut against Pakistan that he can transfer those skills to international cricket,” added Jurgensen.
New Zealand have one more ODI remaining against Ireland on Friday at Malahide before the T20 squad travels to Belfast on Saturday ahead of the first T20I on Monday.
T20 squad members Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Rippon and Ben Sears joined the team in Dublin on Thursday ahead of the series. Jimmy Neesham will be the final player to join the squad after playing for Northamptonshire in the current round of the County Championship.
After the completion of the Ireland tour, New Zealand will play against Scotland in two T20Is and one ODI, before finishing their European tour with two T20Is against the Netherlands.
Updated T20I squad: Mitchell Santner (c), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Dane Cleaver (wk), Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Michael Rippon, Ben Sears, Ish Sodhi and Blair Tickner.
–IANS
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