Cricket News

Bad news for New Zealand! Kane Williamson set to miss second Test vs England

In a massive blow to the New Zealand team, Kane Williamson has been ruled out of the second test against England. He tested positive for COVID-19. Williamson has been going through a torrid time starting from Indian T20 League 2022 to the England-New Zealand series. In the 13 matches that he played for the orange army in the 2022 edition, the Kiwi captain was only able to make 216 runs.

Bad luck seems to have caught Williamson in England too as he would now have to miss the second test against England. It was New Zealand’s coach Gary Stead who confirmed the news. “Coach Gary Stead confirms captain Kane Williamson will miss the second Test against England in Nottingham on Friday, after testing positive for Covid-19 the night before the match. Hamish Rutherford will replace him in the squad #ENGvNZ.” read the Tweet posted by New Zealand’s official Twitter account.

UPDATE: Coach Gary Stead confirms captain Kane Williamson will miss the second Test against England in Nottingham on Friday, after testing positive for Covid-19 the night before the match. Hamish Rutherford will replace him in the squad #ENGvNZ pic.twitter.com/9B0a9zt9JU

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) June 9, 2022

It is reported that the 31-year-old took Rapid Antigen Test after feeling down with fever and the test came out positive. However, all the other Kiwi players were tested negative, and would continue with their English tour as planned.

The New Zealand coach voiced disappointment on Williamson’s unplanned exit through in the video. “It’s such a shame for Kane to be forced to withdraw on the eve of such an important match,” he said.

“We’re all feeling for him at this time and know how disappointed he will be”, he added. On his replacement, the 50-year-old said, “Hamish was with the Test squad earlier in the tour and has been playing for the Leicestershire Foxes in the T20 Vitality Blast.”

New Zealand are set to play the second of the three-test series from June 10th. England have already won the first match all thanks to a resolute hundred from Joe Root. Kane Williamson on the other hand found himself struggling with a score of two and 15 in the first Test. In absence of Williamson, Tom Latham has shouldered the responsibility of a skipper.