‘Conservative’ Lockie Ferguson in no hurry to return after calf injury

Lockie Ferguson, the New Zealand fast bowler, is ready to take the patient route after recovering from a calf injury. The speedster made his Test debut in December against Australia in Perth, but had to pull out of the match after straining his calf muscle. Thereafter, the 28-year-old played a List A match for Auckland. In that game, the pacer failed to pick up a wicket in his quota of 10 overs.

The Auckland-born said that he won’t be able to take part in the upcoming two-match Test series against India. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) selectors are yet to name the national squad though. The series gets underway on February 21 with the first Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. Ferguson has targeted the limited-overs series against Australia in March for his comeback.

“Of course the goal is for me to get back as soon as possible, but there is so much cricket coming up this year,” Ferguson was quoted as saying in Stuff Media in Auckland on Friday. Ferguson has played 36 ODIs and eight T20Is where he has picked 81 wickets after making his debut for the Kiwis in 2016.

Test cricket is the biggest challenge: Lockie Ferguson

Lockie also understands that he has a hectic schedule ahead with the 2020 IPL where he will turn out for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He made his IPL debut last year and he was retained by the franchise despite lacklustre shows with the ball.

“We’ve got a lot of white-ball stuff and I head away to the IPL as well, so it’s important with a calf injury, where there’s a high percentage chance of re-injury, that we be conservative,” Ferguson mentioned.

Ferguson has the ambition of representing the Black Caps more often in Test cricket, which he feels is the ‘biggest challenge’. “Since I started playing professional cricket, it has been my goal to play Test cricket, because personally I feel that’s the biggest challenge.

I am obviously super stoked to be playing one-dayers and T20s for New Zealand, I love every moment of it, but playing red-ball has been a big goal of mine,” the seamer added.