Promising all-rounder Mitchell Santner has been ruled out of the BLACKCAPS tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa after fracturing his thumb in training.
The 23-year-old from the SKYCITY Northern Knights was preparing for the tour at New Zealand Cricket’s High Performance Centre in Christchurch when he was hit fielding the ball off his own bowling yesterday.
Santner will be replaced by Devon Hotel Central Stags all-rounder George Worker who was the leading run scorer (538) in the Ford Trophy in the 2014-15 season.
BLACKCAPS coach Mike Hesson said it was unlucky for Santner who had impressed during his first tour with the national side to England.
“We feel for Mitch because he was really excited about this tour and we were looking forward to seeing him continue his development in international cricket,” said Hesson.
“It is unfortunate but at the same time it presents George with his first opportunity in the BLACKCAPS environment and we are confident that he’ll fit in well.”
Worker (25) is an exciting talent who is hoping to make his BLACKCAPS debut.
The former New Zealand A rep offers a similar skillset to Santner as a left-hand top-order batsman and he also bowls left-arm off spin.
Anton Devcich was unavailable due to recovery from a shoulder operation.
The BLACKCAPS, who leave for South Africa on Thursday, will play three ODIs and a T20 against Zimbabwe and three ODIs and two T20s against South Africa.
