New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was ruled out of Wednesday’s match against South Africa in Pune after failing to recover from his injury.
Williamson fractured his thumb during a match against Bangladesh this month forcing him to miss New Zealand’s last three matches against Afghanistan, India and Australia.
“Kane Williamson has been ruled out of Wednesday’s match against @ProteasMenCSA. Williamson has batted in the nets the last two days but has been ruled out of a return to match action tomorrow. He will be assessed again ahead of the side’s next match against @TheRealPCB,” Black Caps said on X.
Tom Latham, who took over the captaincy in Williamson’s absence, told reporters on Tuesday that the injured players’ progress was being monitored on a day-to-day basis.
“We’ll obviously get through hopefully a bit of work today and then we’ll see how they pull up from a selection point of view,” the wicketkeeper-captain said.
“Lockie went off in the last game with a bit of an Achilles’ niggle, so fingers crossed he’ll be fine for tomorrow.”
Ferguson was injured during Saturday’s high-scoring game against Australia which New Zealand lost by five runs, falling to fourth on the table. All-rounder Chapman missed the game due to a calf injury.
Replacing Chapman, Neesham produced a gutsy half-century to nearly pull off an improbable victory.
