New Zealand injured pace trio ruled out of India ODIs

Wellington, Jan 30 (AFP/APP): Struggling New Zealand will have their bowling stocks further tested after their three leading seamers were ruled out from the squad named Thursday for the one-day series against India.

New Zealand’s fortunes have plummeted since making the World Cup final last year, losing three Tests against Australia and three Twenty20s against India.

Pace bowlers Trent Boult (broken hand), Lockie Ferguson (calf strain) and Matt Henry (broken thumb), who were all injured in Australia, have not recovered in time for the three ODIs against India which start next week after the final two Twenty20 fixtures.

Kyle Jamieson has been called into the squad for the first time while Scott Kuggeleijn and Hamish Bennett are recalled after last playing ODIs in Ireland in 2017.

Tom Latham, who broke a finger on his right hand in the third Test against Australia, has been cleared to resume playing.

The series will be the first ODIs for New Zealand since they beat India in the World Cup semi-finals last year then lost to England in the final, and coach Gary Stead said they were under no illusions about the task ahead.

“We’ve seen from the Twenty20 series (India) are clearly as strong as ever,” he said.

“Tim Southee has an important job leading our new look pace attack, which has a huge opportunity against some of the very best batsmen in the world.

“While the bowling line-up has a fresh look, the batting is very settled and we’ll likely have the same top eight batsmen from the World Cup finals.”

New Zealand squad:

Kane Williamson (capt), Hamish Bennett, Tom Blundell, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.