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New Zealand have suffered a huge blow ahead of the second Test of the series against West Indies. Pace-bowling leader Matt Henry, Nathan Smith and Mitchell Santner have been ruled out of the Wellington Test which is scheduled to start on December 10.
Santner’s injury isn’t specified in the press release. He did not play the first Test as well. Henry bowled a total of 33 overs in the Christchurch Test whereas Smith bowled 15, suffering calf injury and side strain respectively. Smith did not bowl a single over in the fourth innings as West Indies scored 457/6 from 163.3 overs in the run chase of 531.
Uncapped bowlers Michael Rae and Kristian Clarke have been called up for the second Test as Kyle Jamieson and Will O'Rourke are on the sidelines as part of BlackCaps' "return to play" protocols to avoid any injury.
In addition of the two pacers, Mitchell Hay is expected to make his Test debut as wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell suffered a hamstring injury while batting on Day 1 of Test series opener.
New Zealand squad for second Test against West Indies
Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Hay (wk), Michael Bracewell, Zak Foulkes, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner, Michael Rae, Kristian Clarke.
Rookie players’ first-class record
Rae is a 30-year-old pacer who took 10 wickets from last three Plunket Shield games for Canterbury. From 70 first-class appearances, he has 208 wickets at an average of 32.90, including three fifers.
Clarke is a bowling all-rounder. He has 77 wickets from 27 first-class games at 33 apiece for Northern Districts. He has four fifers in red-ball cricket already. With the bat, he has 893 runs from 44 innings at an average of 23.50, featuring three fifties.
Hay has played seven 12 T20Is and seven ODIs so far. He scored an unbeaten 99 against Pakistan in an ODI against Pakistan earlier this year. In first-class cricket, he averages 48.58 with 1,895 runs from 48 innings. He has one century and 17 fifties in the format.
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