New Zealand pacer Adam Milne has been ruled out of the rest of the team’s European tour with an Achilles injury. Milne felt pain in his left Achilles tendon during the team’s first net session in Ireland and a scan this week showed he would need some rest and rehabilitation.
The injury recovery timeline means the newly contracted Wellington Firebirds will likely only be available for the final two matches of the tour against the Netherlands. Milne will leave for Ireland on Saturday to begin his rehabilitation programme.
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“We are naturally disappointed for Adam. He is a great character in any team and I am sure he will apply his strong will in this next phase of rehabilitation. There is still a lot of cricket to come this year with ICC. T20 is also included World Cup in Australia, and Adam is determined to make himself available to be part of that selection picture,” said coach Shane Jurgensen.
With the squad requiring additional bowling cover for the remainder of the tour, the selectors felt that Jacob Duffy was worthy of selection and that he had been influential in his time with the Test and ODI squads in England and Ireland respectively.
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“We are backing Jacob to make the move. He has had an exciting start to his white-ball international career. He is an established performer in our Dream11 Super Smash and he showed those skills in his T20I debut against Pakistan. to international cricket,” Jurgensen said.
New Zealand have one more ODI against Ireland in Malahide on Friday before the T20I team travels to Belfast on Saturday ahead of the first T20I on Monday.
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T20 squad members Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Rippon and Ben Sears joined the squad in Dublin on Thursday ahead of the series. Jimmy Neesham will be the last player to join the squad after playing for Northamptonshire in the current round of the County Championship.
Following the completion of the Ireland tour, New Zealand will play two T20Is and one ODI against Scotland, before ending their European tour with two T20Is against the Netherlands.
Updated T20I squad: Mitchell Santner (c), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Dane Cleaver (wk), Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Michael Rippon, Ben Sears, Ish Sodhi and Blair Ticker.
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