New Zealand have suffered a major injury blow just a few days before their World Cup 2015 semi final against South Africa, losing explosive fast bowler Adam Milne.
Adam Milne picked up a heel injury New Zealand’s quarter final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 against West Indies in Wellington on Saturday and has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament.
The 22-year-old had an MRI on the area on Sunday afternoon which revealed “significant swelling”, New Zealand announced.
“He will not be fit to play any further part in the tournament. A timeline for his return is not yet known,” blackcaps.co.nz reported.
Adam Milne also missed New Zealand’s final group game against Bangladesh after picking up a shoulder injury diving to make a catch against Afghanistan. Milne picked 5 wickets at 39.8 in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
Canterbury fast bowler Matt Herny has joined the team and will replace Milne in the squad, pending the ICC’s Events and Technical Committee rubber-stamping the change.
New Zealand will face South Africa in the first semi final of the ICC Cricket World Cup in Auckland and we will have one team who will make it to the final for the first time in history. Neither the Black Caps nor the Proteas have made it to the last two of the tournament previously.
What captains say
Brendon McCullum on Martin Guptill’s knock (New Zealand captain): “Sublime, just sublime. I will never forget it. The innings we witnessed is probably one of the best we have seen in this format. “We wanted to make a real statement on the back of Gup’s innings and that’s what we did with the ball and in the field.”
AB de Villiers (South Africa captain): “We committed to the fact that we’re not going to show any weakness. In knockout games things don’t always go your way. But we know that in any game actually. You can’t dominate cricket games for 100 overs. It never happens. You’ve got to take a couple of shots on the chin and the way you take it is really important, not to show any weakness to the opposition.”
