New Zealand’s pacer Neil Wagner has been ruled out of the second and final Test of the ongoing series against Pakistan. The left-arm pacer has not travelled with the team to Christchurch where the second Test will be played from January 03.
Wagner injured his toe while batting on the second day of the first Test and had to take pain killer actions to bowl through both the innings of Pakistan and head coach Gary Stead said that the team does not want him to go through the same pain again. Wagner will need up to six weeks of time to recover from the injury.
“Neil hasn’t travelled with us. The injections he was getting were wearing off and we can’t let him go through that again,” coach Garry Stead said to reporters.
He braved broken toes to bowl lengthy spells on the final day where the Blackcaps needed six wickets in the final session, and he got the better of centurion Fawad Alam and the top score for Pakistan in the first innings—Faheem Ashraf.
“Neil was absolutely outstanding. I don’t think there are too many individuals who could do what he did in that test match,” Stead told reporters after the team’s arrival in Christchurch.
Right arm pacer Matt Henry who often finds a place in the playing XI in case of any injury to first-choice quicks, is under contention to find a spot in the XI at the Hagley Oval.
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