New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson has been ruled out of the Test series against England due to a suspected back stress fracture.
New Zealand coach Gary Stead said that Jamieson’s back stress fracture was confirmed in an MRI scan and he has been withdrawn from the series as it is a re occurrence of the injury that ruled him out of the England Test tour in June last year.
Jamieson had returned to action, playing for Auckland Aces in the Super Smash and Ford Trophy before competing in a warm-up match against England last week.
“It is really gutting for Kyle to have this happen after he’d put so much hard work in to getting himself back on the park,” said Stead.
“Since the injury in June we’ve certainly taken a cautious approach to managing his return with regular monitoring by our medical staff which has included scans.
“While Kyle’s not feeling any pain, the evidence is pretty clear he has a stress-fracture and so he’ll return to Christchurch today and have a CT scan on Friday before we decide on the next steps.”
Meanwhile, Matt Henry will miss the first Test as he awaits the birth of his first child. The uncapped duo of Jacob Duffy and Scott Kuggeleijn have been called to join the squad ahead of the first day-night Test against England which starts on February 16.
Tom Blundell will also link up with the squad on February 14 along with Henry Nicholls, who had his original flight from Christchurch cancelled due to Cyclone Gabrielle.
