Hamish Bennett ruled out of the Kiwi squad – ICC World Cup 2011
New Zealand’s young fast bowler Hamish Bennett has been ruled out of the ICC World Cup 2011 due to an ankle and Achilles tendon injury. He will be replaced by veteran medium pacer Daryl Tuffey, who travelled to the Subcontinent as a back-up for Kyle Mills.
However, Mills has recovered speedily and he is likely to take part in the quarterfinal against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391. The team will be led by Daniel Vettori, who missed the previous two games of the tournament
due to injury.
The Kiwi coach, John Wright, stated, “Kyle http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mills-c76321 bowled well in the nets today so we have the situation under control. I'm not that frustrated. We can do it with any eleven. Dan will be fine. He'll be playing unless something unforeseen happens.”
Wright further added that the team may go with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Luke-Woodcock-c1860 as an additional spinner in the next game. He said, “We will have a look at the wicket. Luke's probably got a bigger chance [of being selected] than he has had in any other game at the tournament
if it's a typical Dhaka wicket.” There were also some indications from Wright that the batting order will be shuffled in the knockout matches, as veteran all-rounder Scott Styris may bat at number five for the team.
New Zealand have been inconsistent in their group matches, which is not a good sign for the team. They won their matches comprehensively against the minnows http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 and Sri Lanka, which pushed them
down to number four in Group A.
The only good sign for the Black Caps was that they defeated Pakistan, who ended-up as the top team in their group, by 110 runs. However, the victory didn’t come without luck, as several catches were dropped in that match by wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal.
Apart from some luck, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 will be hoping to complete the next match without having any injury problems. In their last three matches, the Kiwi team lost three key players during the match due to injuries.
The first one to go was captain Vettori, who injured his knee in the game against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. The veteran all-rounder dived to take a catch from Kamran Akmal’s hit, but hurt his knee in the process. He had to leave the field after that and didn’t bowl a single
delivery in that game.
Medium pacer Kyle Mills was the next member of the Kiwi team to sustain an injury while playing. He was only able to bowl 16 deliveries in the match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canada-c748, as he suffered a quad strain.
This brought Bennett in the side for the team’s final match of the group against hosts http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758. However, the young pacer was able to bowl only 4.1 overs in the match before he walked out of the field.
If the trend continues, it will be hard for the Kiwi team to advance to the semi-finals of the tournament, as they will be up-against the mighty Proteas.
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