New Zealand coach Gary Stead hopes that the players will be fully healthy before flying to the Americas for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. Devon Conway underwent surgery after sustaining a thumb injury in February.
The injury kept him out of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Finn Allen, another New Zealand opener, missed the T20I series against Pakistan owing to a back illness. Both openers are presently in rehab.
“Finn Allen’s in the nets here behind us at the moment, so he’s tracking along nicely,” Gary Stead told reporters at the team’s training camp at Mount Maunganui on Thursday.
“He’s still got a little bit of pain in his back, but our plan this week is to progress them up and put more intensity into his training each day. Devon’s over at the IPL still, and he is tracking nicely. He’s been wicketkeeping and batting in the nets regularly. He’s back home at the end of the week. We’ll have a look at him early next week and make sure that he’s good to go as well,” Gary Stead added.
“There’s a lot of experience in the group”- Gary Stead
To prepare for the various conditions they will face in the Caribbean, the New Zealand team has been training at Bay Oval on three different surfaces, says coach Gary Stead. He also believed that the majority of the team had been playing enough cricket.
“There are many guys who’ve been in the IPL for the last two months, and we’ve also recently come off the tour to Pakistan,” Gary Stead told reporters at the team’s training camp at Mount Maunganui on Thursday.
“There’s a lot of experience in the group, who have played in the Caribbean Premier League before, so we’ll be leaning on those guys and making sure the training we get in before the first game gets us to where we want to be,” Gary Stead added.
New Zealand has no warm-up matches scheduled before its World Cup Group C opener against Afghanistan on June 7 in Georgetown.
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