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New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has been ruled out of the high-voltage clash against an in-form South Africa at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on November 1. The New Zealand Cricket Board (NZC) confirmed the news on October 31.
“Williamson has batted in the nets the last two days but has been ruled out of a return to match action tomorrow. He will be assessed again ahead of the side’s next match against Pakistan,” the BlackCaps said in a statement.
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Williamson made his last appearance in the World Cup 2023 against Bangladesh at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on October 13. After returning from an ACL injury, Williamson sustained a thumb injury against Bangladesh which forced him to retire out for 78 in the run chase. Williamson was sidelined due to injury against Afghanistan, India, and Australia.
In Williamson’s absence, Tom Latham has been leading the Kiwi side. Also, Rachin Ravindra has been in sensational form batting at no.3. Ravindra scored a century against Australia in a high-scoring run chase in Dharamsala where New Zealand fell short of the target by just six runs. The left-handed batter is one of the top run-scorers of the tournament. He has scored 406 runs from six games at an average of 81.20 including two centuries and as many fifties.
Meanwhile, there is a big question mark over the availability of their tearaway pacer Lockie Ferguson who injured his right Achilles in the Australia game.
The stand-in skipper on the eve of the match against South Africa provided an injury update in the pre-match press conference.
"Yeah, just as I said before, there's Lockie, Kane and Mark Chapman. We'll obviously get through hopefully a bit of work today and then we'll see how they pull up from a selection point of view. But yeah, obviously, Lockie went off in the last game with a bit of Achilles' niggle, so fingers crossed he'll be fine for tomorrow," said Latham.
If Ferguson does not regain full fitness, New Zealand may include Tim Southee against the Proteas.
New Zealand are currently placed third on the points table with four wins from six games and an impressive net run rate (NRR).
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