New Zealand suffered a fresh injury setback as their star pacer Lockie Ferguson hurt his hamstring during ILT20 2025 Qualifier 1 clash. The Desert Vipers captain left the field without completing his quota of four overs.
Ferguson did not bowl the last ball of the match. Vipers needed to defend one run off the last ball and Mohammad Amir took the ball. A boundary off the last ball ensured Vipers play Qualifier 2.
At the post-match presentation, Ferguson shrugged off any injury concerns as he said, "just a little hamstring issue, unfortunate. Tough night; wish I could've bowled the last ball."
The next day he went for scans and it was more than just a minor issue. New Zealand head coach Gary Stead is considering every possibility as he awaits more details regarding the extent of injury.
"Lockie had a scan yesterday [Thursday] in the UAE," Stead said ahead of the tri-series opener against hosts Pakistan." We've got the images here and [we are] waiting for our radiologist to give us a report on the extent of it. Small hamstring injury, by the look of it, so we're just waiting on a timeline of advice around that before we make a decision on whether Lockie travels here [Pakistan] or whether we do have to replace him for the Champions Trophy."
Ferguson did not play the Qualifier 2 against Sharjah Warriors. In his absence, Sam Curran captained the side. Vipers won the match by seven wickets and qualified for the ILT20 2025 final. However, it is not clear whether he will play the final on February 9 against Dubai Capitals.
Moody on pacers' workload
Ferguson has played 66.66 per cent of Vipers' matches this season so far. Vipers' director of cricket had said that he has tried to manage the workload of fast bowlers in order to keep them fresh.
"We have tried to manage the players with rotation of quicks as much as we possibly can," Moody said in the Vipers Voices podcast in January. "Lockie Ferguson, Mohammad Amir and Luke Wood, today, have all had a chance to rest and freshen up. But yes, it is a pretty tough schedule and there is an element of physical fatigue but probably, more importantly, mental fatigue.
"And there has not been that chance to really disengage and freshen up mentally. But that is the reality of tournament cricket. Everyone is trying to fit in a tournament within a certain window. And what comes of that is a pretty heavy schedule. And we came in expecting that, knowing that."
The 33-year-old has played three games on Pakistan soil and played as many wickets at an average of 48.33.
