New Zealand's star opener Devon Conway has been ruled out of the opening Test of the two-match series against Australia. The 32-year-old is battling an injury to his left thumb and additional scans have led to the decision.
The southpaw sustained the injury while wicketkeeping during the 2nd T20I of the recently culminated three-match series against Australia at Eden Park in Auckland.
Conway will seek medical consultation in the coming days to ascertain the damage and, therefore, it cannot be confirmed whether he will be available for selection in the second Test in Christchurch starting March 8.
The Blackcaps have recalled Henry Nicholls as Conway's replacement for the first match against the reigning World Test champions.
New Zealand's head coach, Garry Stead is disappointed with the injury to Conway and is aware of his significance in the batting order.
"It’s disappointing for Devon to be ruled out on the eve of an important match," Stead said in a press release.
"He’s a class player batting at the top of the order for us and I know he was really looking forward to this series," he added.
However, Nicholls' inclusion in the Test squad will benefit the Kiwis and Stead realises that. The coach believes that Nicholls "covers a number of positions in the batting order" and his vast red-ball experience can work wonders for the hosts.
"It’s nice to have a player of Henry’s calibre to call on. He has plenty of Test experience and covers a number of positions in our batting order," he mentioned.
New Zealand Test squad:
Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O'Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will Young.
Australia Test squad:
Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc.
