The New Zealand Cricket Team has been dealt another major blow as Tim Southee is unlikely to take part in the opening match of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 to be played at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on 5th October 2023.
New Zealand will begin their campaign against England in the opening match of the 2023 edition. Tim Southee could not recover from the injury that he suffered during 4th One-day international match against England at Lords. However, head coach, Gary Stead remained confident that the veteran bowler will be available for selection from the next match onwards.
Kiwis will be without their regular skipper Kane Williamson as he recovering from a knee injury. Tom Latham would lead the side.
“Tim arrived with the team a few days ago now. He had a very light bowl yesterday down at the ground. He’s still just working through the wound on his thumb, but things are looking good. I’m hoping in the next match that he’ll be available for selection.”
“It’s still a bit tender where obviously there’s a bit of scarring and a bit of numbness around where the plate is. So I guess it’s just [about] getting used to that. And getting back into some bowling. Haven’t done a lot of bowling over the last couple of weeks, so it’s about getting your loads back up as well as managing the thumb. A bit of a race against time to get here but managed to get here and it’s a great place to come. It’s an awesome place to come and play cricket, let alone being a World Cup.”
Tim Southee’s performance in World Cups
Tim Southee has been the backbone of New Zealand bowling, especially in World Cups. He is fourth fourth-highest wicket-taker for Kiwis in World Cup history. His performances in mega event has been sensational with 34 wickets from 18 matches and registered figures of 7 for 33 during the 2015 World Cup game against England which is the best spell by an Kiwi bowler in World Cup history.
Southee played just 1 match in the 2019 tournament and grabbed only 1 wicket in that match. His experience will be of great use when he returns to the squad.
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