ICC World Cup 2019: New Zealand’s Tom Latham set to miss warm-up fixtures

While the pundits and experts believe that the likes of India and England are the favourites to get their hands on the World Cup, New Zealand is being considered as one of the dark horses. In 2019, the Black Caps defeated Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in a couple of home ODI series but lost to Virat Kohli’s India which was considered to be the real test. Meanwhile, prior to the mega event, the team has been jolted by a blow.

Their premier wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham won’t be a part of the two warm-up fixtures prior to the main round. The same is due to a finger injury that he developed while playing for New Zealand XI in their match against Australia XI in Brisbane. He took part in three matches against them.

Kane Williamson updated on the same

Earlier, it was expected that he would be fit for the second game, but that won’t be the case. Uncapped Tom Blundell is his probable replacement in the team. Moreover, it’s still not clear whether the Canterbury-born Latham would be able to attain the desired level of fitness before the main round gets underway.

“Tom won’t be available for the first two warm-up games. We are hoping he progresses nice and quickly and we will have to address it as the days go by,” Kane Williamson, the New Zealand skipper, was quoted as saying in cricketworldcup.com at the Captain’s Day where the skippers from all the ten participating nations assembled for an open press conference.

The Kiwis are scheduled to play their first warm-up contest versus India, captained by Virat Kohli, tomorrow at the Kennington Oval in London. On May 28, Williamson & Co will lock horns with the Windies at the County Ground in Bristol. Their first match in the main round is against Dimuth Karunaratne’s Sri Lanka on June 1 at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.

As far as Latham is concerned, he has been a crucial element in New Zealand’s middle order. After making his ODI debut against Zimbabwe way back in 2012, the southpaw has scored 2395 runs in 85 matches at an average of 33.73 with four tons and 14 half-centuries. Latham has also been more than handy with glove work behind the wickets.

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