ICC World Cup 2019 | Tom Latham hopeful to feature in Kiwi's encounter against Sri Lanka
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Tom Latham has revealed that his training session on Thursday was completed without a hitch and he is feeling good about his recovery. He had fractured his finger in a warm-up game but stated it has healed for the most part and a final decision will be taken soon regarding his inclusion in the team.
After an unfortunate incident occurred three weeks ago in an unofficial ODI against Australia which saw Latham’s left middle finger cracked and displaced, the wicketkeeper has been given a cautious green light and is most likely to be wearing the gloves for Kiwis in their first game of the tournament.
"We still have to wait till tomorrow to see how it pulls up and have a hit against our bowlers. The ball was going into the gloves nicely and I didn't manage to take one on the finger. Things are feeling really well. We're taking it step by step and hopefully the fracture has healed by now and it's more a maintenance thing. We've got all the protection around it and hopefully, fingers crossed, we cannot take a ball on there,” Latham said, as reported by ESPN Cricinfo.
New Zealand coach Gary Stead was also satisfied with the progress and stated that the experienced batsman would be the undisputed starter even though his substitute, Tom Blundell, has been tidy behind the wicket and scored a blistering century against the West Indies, although in a losing cause.
The Black Caps commence their World Cup campaign in Cardiff on Saturday against Sri Lanka.
