Sophie Devine, New Zealand’s captain, has been ruled out of the fifth and final Twenty20 International against England due to a quad injury acquired while bowling during the fourth T20I on Wednesday.
According to New Zealand Cricket, Devine “had sustained a grade one quad strain which would require a short period of rehabilitation” after a scan.
She will stay with the group in Wellington, where the fourth and fifth T20Is will be played, and “undergo a rehabilitation programmed”. Her participation in the three-match ODI series beginning on April 1 will be determined later.
Georgia Plimmer, who was part of the New Zealand A side that was playing a parallel series against England A, has been brought in as Devine’s replacement.
“We’re obviously disappointed for Sophie, but the focus is now to make her available for as much of the ODI series as possible,” New Zealand head coach Ben Sawyer said. “Sophie will be monitored over the next few days and that will give us a better idea of what her availability is before the first game on Monday.
“The ODI series is an important series for us with ICC ODI Championship points on the line so we’re hopeful that Sophie will make a quick recovery.”
New Zealand would badly want Devine to be in the mix when the ODIs begin, having lost the T20I series with one game to play. Devine has been one of New Zealand’s best performers in the series thus far, hitting 77 runs in two innings at a strike rate of 150.98 while taking four wickets.
Devine and Amelia Kerr missed the series’ opening T20I because they had yet to return to New Zealand from the Women’s Premier League in India. Plimmer and Mikaela Greig had been called up to the team for that game.
