O'Rourke, Phillips & Allen ruled out of Australia series; Santner set for surgery

Wellington: New Zealand have some major injury concerns ahead of a home summer, with Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips and Finn Allen ruling out of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy T20I series against Australia at Bay Oval in the first week of October. O’Rourke is set to be out of action for at least three months after scans revealed a stress fracture in his lower back.

The 24-year-old sustained the injury while bowling in the first Test against Zimbabwe earlier this month and subsequently returned home to undergo further assessment.

New Zealand coach Rob Walter said O’Rourke will undergo a three-month strength and conditioning block before being reassessed to ascertain a return to bowling and to play.

The injury means O’Rourke won’t be available for the BlackCaps opening white-ball tours of the home summer against Australia (October 3-5), England (October 18-Nov 1) and the West Indies (November 5-22).

Phillips requires further rehabilitation on the groin injury that ruled him out of the Zimbabwe tour and will be reassessed in a month’s time to ascertain his potential return to play, while Allen is set for three months on the sideline after undergoing surgery on his right foot.

White-ball captain Santner, who returned home from The Hundred over the weekend following groin pain, is set to have abdominal surgery with an expected recovery time of approximately one month making him touch and go for the Australian series.

Walter said they would give Santner every opportunity to play in the series. (IANS)

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