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In a massive blow to New Zealand ahead of the first Test against England in Mount Maunganui, experienced pace bowling all-rounder Kyle Jamieson was ruled out of the series after suffering a re-occurrence of his niggling back injury, while fellow quick Matt Henry will also miss the opening Test from Thursday as he awaits the birth of his first child.
As per ICC, uncapped duo Jacob Duffy and Scott Kuggeleijn have received a late call-up to the Black Caps' squad and could make their Test debut at Bay Oval should they earn selection. It is the absence of Jamieson that will hurt the Kiwis most, with the 28-year-old having been slated to return from his back complaint for this series after he picked up the injury during New Zealand's Test tour of England in June. Jamieson recently made a successful comeback to domestic cricket in New Zealand, but an MRI scan on the affected area had picked up a suspected stress fracture of the back. "It is really gutting for Kyle to have this happen after he had put so much hard work into getting himself back on the park," New Zealand coach Gary Stead said. "Since the injury in June, we have certainly taken a cautious approach to managing his return with regular monitoring by our medical staff which has included scans." "While Kyle is not feeling any pain, the evidence is pretty clear he has a stress-fracture and so he will return to Christchurch today and have a CT scan on Friday before we decide on the next steps," concluded the coach. Henry is expected to return to New Zealand's camp ahead of the second Test of the series in Wellington that starts on February 24. New Zealand Test squad: Tim Southee (c), Michael Bracewell, Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will Young. England Men's Test squad: Ben Stokes (Durham) Captain, James Anderson (Lancashire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Will Jacks (Surrey), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Matthew Potts (Durham), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Joe Root (Yorkshire) and Olly Stone (Nottinghamshire). (ANI)
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