New Zealand will play, the opening game of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 against England on 5th October at the Narendra Modi International Stadium in Ahmedabad. They will miss the service of their skipper Kane Williamson as Tom Latham will be the stand-in captain for the Blackcaps in the absence of Williamson.

Tom Latham was confident about Williamson’s recovery from ACL injury. Kane Williamson sustained a knee injury in the opening match of the IPL 2023 while fielding for Gujarat Titans. After that, he underwent surgery for a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee and was out from cricketing action for six months.

Although Kane Williamson is a part of New Zealand’s World Cup squad, the skipper will miss the first game against England. Tom Latham talked about Kane Williamson’s importance in the squad and how well he is recovering from his injury. He also praised Williamson’s hard work for recovering in such a short time to be available for the World Cup

“I guess any team that doesn’t have Kane in it is obviously, you know, we’d certainly be better off having him but I think from our point of view for him to be here, to be at the World Cup is a testament to – I think the work that he’s put on over the last four to five months to be where he is and I think it’s nearly six months post-surgery and for him to be given a shot, to be given a chance to play in the World Cup at some point is really a testament to the work that he’s put in,” Latham said in the pre-match press conference.

Tom Latham was highly impressed by Kane Williamson’s performance in the warm-up matches. Williamson scored 54 runs off 37 deliveries against Pakistan in their warm-up game. Latham said that it is a day-by-day process for Kane in terms of recovery.

“So for him it’s a day-by-day process in terms of where his recovery is at. He’s obviously played a little bit of a part of the last two warm-up games. You know he’s been batting beautifully, which is great to see and he was out in the field a couple of days ago, so he’s progressing really nicely and fingers crossed he’s on the park sooner rather than later,” he stated.

Tim Southee Will Miss New Zealand’s Opening Game, Reveals Tom Latham

Apart from Kane Williamson, Tim Southee will also miss New Zealand’s World Cup opener as he has not fully recovered from his thumb injury. Tom Latham assured that both these players will be available for selection soon and till then the other players will have to give their best in order to succeed in this World Cup.

“Yeah, so obviously no Kane and no Tim as well. He’s unavailable for selection just in terms of what happened to his thumb a couple of weeks ago, but he’s recovering nicely. I think he’s nearly two weeks post-surgery so fingers crossed he can keep recovering. It’s a bit of a day-by-day process with him in terms of what that looks like too. But fingers crossed he’ll be available sooner rather than later as well,” Latham added.

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