New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is a doubtful starter for the crucial T20I game against visiting England on February 13 as reportedly he has issues with his back. Amidst, Eoin Morgan is also struggling to gain full fitness before this game in Wellington.
The decision of whether Williamson would play on Tuesday would be taken ahead of the match.
“I’m 100-ish [percent]. I’m looking forward to taking a full part in training and hoping I should be fit for tomorrow night but Henry is in is cover. I’ve got a bit of a back niggle and hopefully, it’s settled by tomorrow,” said Williamson.
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The runs have dried up for Kane Williamson in Twenty20 global cricket, having scored 101 at an average of 14 since the start of November. If Williamson isn’t fit, Tim Southee is likely to lead the side, like in the first Twenty20 worldwide against Pakistan earlier in the season, when a side strain had ruled Williamson out. Tim Southee stood in as skipper as New Zealand won a low-scoring match.
“It’s hard when you’ve got three teams and they are all trying to play cricket at the same time,” Williamson added. “We certainly want to get on the board in this tri-series and it becomes very important that we play our best cricket tomorrow night. Obviously, England and Australia have played two in a row which means we didn’t have a game to play.”
Morgan, too, is suffering from a groin injury and was ruled out of the previous match against Australia. Joss Buttler acted as the stand-in skipper but failed to win the match for England.
Adil Rashid threw light over Morgan’s importance and said “Morgs has been a class act for England for many years and if he’s out, he’s a big miss. He’s a leader, he’s our captain and he has been for the past three years. He’s done a tremendous job and he gives us input on and off the field. Even [on] Saturday he was there with information where needed.”
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He concluded while saying “He captains really well, he’s clued into the game and he would be a big miss, so hopefully he’ll be back playing in a couple of days.”
New Zealand played just one match in the ongoing tri-nation series, which they lost to Australia. However, they want to change the fortunes on their home ground.
