By Ian Ransom
(Reuters) – New Zealand’s preparations for the test series against England are being hit on all fronts with a cyclone, a key injury and new-born babies tearing up the squad’s plans in the leadup.
Towering paceman Kyle Jamieson, in his first test squad since hurting his back on the tour of England last year, has suffered a relapse of the injury and could be ruled out of both tests, New Zealand media reported.
Head coach Gary Stead declined to reveal the nature of the injury but said Jamieson, who took 3-65 in a two-day warm-up match in Hamilton, was being assessed by medical staff.
Cyclone Gabrielle, which was bearing down on the North Island on Monday and had cut power to thousands of homes, prevented players from linking up with the squad for a training camp in Tauranga ahead of the series-opener in Mount Maunganui starting on Thursday.
“It’s had a wee bit of an impact on travel for some people,” Stead told reporters.
With flights cancelled due to the storm, paceman Blair Tickner and opener Will Young had resorted to driving themselves up from Napier, fours hours south of Tauranga.
Batsman Henry Nicholls also had his flight cancelled and was not expected to arrive at Tauranga until Tuesday.
Wicketkeeper Tom Blundell had remained in Wellington following the birth of his second child, while paceman Matt Henry was awaiting the birth of his first in Christchurch, the team said.
“(The babies) are exciting for our team … but yeah, it’s disappointing, the weather with the way it is, but there’s a lot more people worse off at the top of the North Island than what we are here,” said Stead.
Both New Zealand and England moved training indoors on Monday to escape heavy rain.
The first test will be a pink ball one, only the second hosted by New Zealand.
New Zealand beat England in the nation’s first day-night test nearly five years ago at Eden Park in Auckland.
England have lost their last five pink ball tests, including two heavy defeats to Australia in the 2021-22 Ashes.
England’s Ollie Robinson, who had a miserable, injury-blighted match in the last of them in Hobart, said neither he nor fellow paceman James Anderson were fans of day-night tests or the pink Kookaburra ball.
“We’ve been trying to get them to swing this last week and they’re very inconsistent and the seam is a bit grippier in the surface,” he told reporters.
“They’re just not a traditional cricket ball. Jimmy’s not happy about it.
“Traditional test cricket … there’s nothing wrong with it. I don’t think we need to play these pink ball games. A bit gimmicky.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
