Tim Southee unlikely to play in 2023 World Cup opener against England

The New Zealand cricket team have suffered another blow as Tim Southee is likely to miss the 2023 World Cup opener against England. The game is set to be played on October 5, Thursday, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. However, head coach Gary Stead remains confident of the veteran seamer being available for selection from the next game.

Southee suffered a thumb injury during the 4th ODI against England at Lord's, forcing him to undergo surgery. While the right-arm seamer has arrived in India ahead of the tournament opener, he is understood to not be fully fit. The Black Caps will also be without their regular captain Kane Williamson as he continues to recover from his knee injury.

Speaking ahead of the opening game, Stead said, as quoted by 1news.co.nz:

"Tim arrived with the team a few days ago now. He had a very light bowl yesterday down at the ground. He's still just working through the wound on his thumb but things are looking good. I'm hoping in the next match that he'll be available for selection."

The 34-year-old is the fourth-highest wicket-taker for New Zealand in World Cups with 34 wickets in 18 matches at 25.11. His figures of 9-0-33-7 against England in the 2015 edition are the best by a Kiwi in the history of World Cups.

"A bit of a race against time to get here" - Tim Southee

Tim Southee.(Image Credits: Twitter)

After arriving in Ahmedabad, Southee revealed that there is still some numbness on his thumb and believes it's about managing his workload over the next few days. As quoted by ESPN Cricinfo, he said:

"It's still a bit tender where obviously there's a bit of scarring and a bit of numbness around where the plate is. So I guess it's just [about] getting used to that. And getting back into some bowling. Haven't done a lot of bowling over the last couple of weeks, so it's about getting your loads back up as well as managing the thumb. A bit of a race against time to get here, but managed to get here and it's a great place to come. It's an awesome place to come and play cricket, let alone being a World Cup."

The Black Caps were the finalists in the last two editions, losing to Australia and England.