New Zealand cricket fans on Tuesday (September 25) heaved a sigh of relief as their senior fast bowler Tim Southee was cleared to travel to India for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023.
Southee underwent surgery on September 20 to treat the thumb injury he sustained in the fourth and final ODI against England at Lord’s earlier this month.
The 34-year-old picked up the injury while attempting to take Joe Root’s catch but the ball hit his thumb and deflected to third man. Later, an x-ray confirmed that Southee dislocated and fractured a bone in his right thumb.
Kiwi head coach Gary Stead was “really hopeful” Tim Southee would be available for selection early in the showpiece tournament, slated to get underway on October 5 with the New Zealand versus England clash in Ahmedabad.
“Tim has seen a hand specialist yesterday and the key thing for him is just making sure the wound heals.
“We're giving him a little bit longer at home. He'll come over on Saturday and join the team.”
Stead said Southee’s procedure involved the insertion of five pins into his right thumb and that it appeared to have healed well so far.
“I had a good chat with him yesterday around that. He's comfortable he'll be ready somewhere near that first or second game.”
“It’s a quick recovery,” added Stead, “but part of the reason for the surgery was the idea that it will help it to recover quickly, or more quickly than what might be normal.
“He's had a check-in with the surgeon and hand therapists and they think there might be a little bit of pain still, but he's a pretty tough and resilient character, so we were very fortunate having him within our squad still.”
As a precautionary measure, Kyle Jamieson will join the World Cup squad as the cover for Southee but will not officially be associated with the squad. Jamieson won’t feature in the warm-up fixtures against Pakistan and South Africa.
Stead said keeping Jamieson around was “just to make sure that if another bowler goes down right before the first game, or Tim doesn't heal as quickly or has some sort of setback, then we have someone there that's a ready replacement.”
New Zealand's World Cup Squad:
Kane Williamson (c), Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Will Young
