Tim Seifert out of the series (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
Tim Seifert Injury: New Zealand’s wicketkeeper batsman Tim Seifert has been ruled out of the T20 series against West Indies. Seifert’s finger is broken. Seifert suffered this injury while batting in New Zealand’s domestic tournament Ford Trophy. Seifert suffered an injury to his right finger while batting for Northern Districts in the Ford Trophy, after which an X-ray revealed a fracture. New Zealand Cricket Board has wished for the speedy recovery of Tim Seifert from injury.
Michel Hay replaces Seifert
Mitchell Hay has been called in place of Tim Seifert in the New Zealand team for the T20 series against West Indies. Mitchell Hay plays for Canterbury in domestic cricket and like Seifert, he is also a right-handed wicketkeeper batsman. Mitchell Hay made his ODI and T20 debut for New Zealand only last year.
Mitchell’s performance against Seifert
25 year old Mitchell Hay has played 11 T20 matches for New Zealand so far, in which his performance has not been anything special. He has scored only 87 runs in 9 innings of those 11 T20s, in which he has scored 41 unbeaten runs in one inning. With these figures, it will be a big challenge for Mitchell Hay to compensate for the lack of experienced and explosive-tempered Tim Seifert, who has scored 1850 runs with 12 half-centuries in 72 innings of 77 T20 Internationals.
New Zealand-West Indies T20 series schedule
The T20 series between New Zealand and West Indies is starting from 5th November. The first match of the 5 T20 series will be played in Auckland. The second match of the series will also be played in Auckland on 6th November. New Zealand and West Indies teams will go to Nelson for the third and fourth T20, which will be played on 9 and 10 November. The 5th and last match of the T20 series will be played in Dunedin on 13 November.
New Zealand team for T20 series against West Indies
Mitchell Santner (captain), Devon Conway, Mitchell Hay, Tim Robinson, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Jack Fox, Nathan Smith, Jacob Duffy, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi.