Fast bowler Neil Wagner played almost all of the first cricket Test match against Pakistan with two broken toes and will now not play the second Test. According to Blackcaps coach Gary Stead, Wagner is expected to be out for at least six weeks and won’t be taking part in the second match at Hagley Oval in Christchurch, starting on Sunday. This was after plenty of heroics in the first test, however, for which he’s being hailed in no uncertain terms with the Kiwis ending up victorious.
Wagner was hit by a yorker from Shaheen Afridi while batting on the second day of the first Test at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, sustaining two fractures to toes on his right foot. In spite of the injury, the world number three ranked pacer bowled 21 overs in Pakistan’s first innings and 28 in the second, leaving the field for painkilling injections before returning to bowl again.
In the second innings, he bowled a lengthy spell of 11 overs, securing two vital wickets as New Zealand completed a win by 101 runs on Wednesday. He captured the wickets of century-maker Fawad Alam and the dangerous Faheem Ashraf, exposing the Pakistan tail and triggering a collapse.
“Neil was absolutely outstanding,” Stead told reporters at Christchurch airport on Thursday. “I don’t think there are too many individuals who could do what he did in that Test match. “Neil hasn’t travelled with us. The injections he was getting (to lessen the pain) were wearing off (quickly) and we can’t let him go through that again,” he said.