New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson was ruled out of the remainder of his side’s tour of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka with a thumb injury, a team official said on Wednesday.
Williamson was struck on the left thumb in the 35th over while fielding at point during the first One-Day International against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Williamson immediately left the field and was unable to bat as New Zealand lost the rain-hit match by 43 runs under the Duckworth/ Lewis method.
His left thumb was dislocated and, after specialist treatment at a local hospital, an X-ray revealed a small fracture.
‘This kind of injury unfortunately means Kane cannot take part in the rest of the tour and he’ll return to New Zealand to begin his rehabilitation,’ Black Caps physiotherapist Paul Close said in a statement. ‘Kane is about six weeks away from playing again at this stage.’
The loss of Williamson, who had a century in one of his two innings when the Kiwis last toured Bangladesh in 2010, comes as a major blow to New Zealand’s chances of overhauling their 1-0 series deficit in the final two games.
The all-rounder had been the tourists’ stand-out performer in the Test series, with scores of 114 and 74 in Chittagong and 62 in their only innings in the Dhaka Test. He also picked up a wicket in each Test with his right-arm off-break bowling.
His absence strains an already thin New Zealand batting order, which is without veteran all-rounder Daniel Vettori and opening batsman Martin Guptill, who did make the tour due to injuries.
His injury also comes on the heels of Bangladesh losing one of its own key players – star all-rounder Sakib al Hasan was diagnosed with dengue fever before the first ODI and is likely to miss the rest of the series.
Luke Ronchi was called in as a replacement for Williamson for the remaining part of the Bangladesh tour.
New Zealand will play two more ODIs in Bangladesh, on Thursday and on November 3, before concluding their stay with a one-off Twenty20 International on November 6.
They will then fly to Sri Lanka to play three ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals against the home side from November 10 to 21.
Williamson was supposed to lead New Zealand in Sri Lanka in the absence of regular captain Brendon McCullum, who was scheduled to be given a break.
The new captain for the Sri Lankan ODIs and an additional player to join the squad for that leg of the tour will be named at a later date, according to the Cricket New Zealand statement.
-With New Age input
