Blair Tickner stretchered with shoulder injury as he hurt himself when he dived full-length in an attempt to prevent a boundary.
Tickner stretchered off after shoulder injury.
Blair Tickner, a fast bowler from New Zealand who was the team’s best player on the first day of the second Test in Wellington, was removed from the pitch on a stretcher due to a possible dislocation of his left shoulder.
Tickner hurt himself in the 67th over while trying to save a boundary at fine leg after earlier tearing through the West Indies’ batting with a four-wicket haul. His teammates were concerned when he dove full length close to the rope while chasing a flip from Tevon Imlach and stayed down right away. He was treated on the boundary edge by the medical personnel from the venue and the New Zealand camp before being carried out on a stretcher while sitting upright to enthusiastic cheers from the Basin Reserve audience.
“He [Tickner] left the field with a left shoulder injury and was transported to hospital shortly afterwards,” NZC said in a release. “Once the medical team and local doctors have done their work with him an update will be fed back.”
Following injuries to Nathan Smith and Matt Henry in Christchurch, Tickner was selected for the starting lineup for his first Test since early 2023. He was by far New Zealand’s top bowler of the day with 4 for 32 from 16 overs. However, Ben Sears, Will O’Rourke, and Matt Fisher are just a few of the fast bowlers that are already sidelined for this series due to his injury.
It is now possible that New Zealand will lose a third fast bowler in the middle of this series. West Indies were able to bat out for a draw after they were similarly reduced in Christchurch.
Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, and rookie Michael Rae’s already inexperienced seam attack would suffer a serious setback if Tickner were to miss the rest of the game. Surprisingly, part-timers Glenn Phillips (31 Test wickets) and Kane Williamson (30) are New Zealand’s top two Test wicket-takers thus far.
Additionally, this is the first time in 13 years that New Zealand has fielded a seam-bowling combination with fewer than 50 career Test wickets between them; the last time this happened was in Kingston in 2012, when Trent Boult, Tim Southee, and Neil Wagner played together for the first time.