Jordan Cox landed in New Zealand seemingly assured of a Test debut only for his tour to be cruelly ended by a fractured thumb. The injury now means England are scrambling to fly out a replacement wicketkeeper, with Ollie Pope likely to deputise initially when the series begins in Christchurch on Thursday.
The incident occurred before the second and final day of England’s warm-up match in Queenstown when Cox was receiving throwdowns from assistant coach Jeetan Patel in the nets. Scans at the local hospital confirmed the severity of the break, with the 24-year-old left understandably crestfallen.
“I’m gutted for Jordan,” said Brendon McCullum, the head coach. “He has been shaping up nicely, both with the bat and gloves, since we got to New Zealand. That’s sport and unfortunately these things happen. We will get around him and look after him. He is resilient and his time will come at some point in the future.”
Sympathy for Cox aside, the injury brings into question England’s decision not to bring a specialist reserve wicketkeeper on tour, with Jamie Smith, the team’s first-choice gloveman, at home on paternity leave. Pope is no mug behind the stumps, having kept in three Test matches previously. Equally, the vice-captain is under pressure for his spot in a year that has been feast or famine with the bat.
The additional burden of keeping wicket is likely to last only one Test, however, until a new wicketkeeper is flown out. Durham’s Ollie Robinson, uncapped at international level, appears favourite to get the nod, confirmation of which would suggest that England have fully moved on from Ben Foakes and Jonny Bairstow.
Both players were dropped after the 4-1 defeat in India this year and while Bairstow still has another year to run on his central contract, he has not featured for England since the T20 World Cup in June. Foakes, who lost his place on the contract list last month, is considered the best gloveman in the country but failed to convince McCullum he could be a game-changer with the bat at No 7.
Whoever gets the call – Phil Salt was another wicketkeeper under consideration at the start of last summer – they will now struggle to reach New Zealand in time for the series opener at Hagley Oval. The upshot of this could be a possible Test debut for Jacob Bethell, the Warwickshire all-rounder who is yet to score a century at professional level but is viewed as a generational talent.
Bethell will be coming in slightly cold. The 21-year-old and Rehan Ahmed arrived in New Zealand only on Sunday – and were flown straight to Christchurch – after featuring in the recent white-ball tour to the Caribbean. Pope at least had the chance to refamiliarise himself with the gloves, keeping tidily for 68 overs before England fell five runs short of reeling in a contrived target of 201 in just 22 overs.
It was an eventful day at one of the world’s most scenic cricket grounds. Jimmy Anderson donned the whites for the first time since his international retirement in July – England’s bowling coach appeared as a sub fielder – while Christopher Luxon, the prime minister of New Zealand, flew in for a photo opportunity at lunch. Although it was not an official game because of its rolling cast, the cricket certainly entertained.
After the Prime Minister’s XI made 313 for five the second time around – Shoaib Bashir and Jack Leach sent down the bulk of the overs after the seamers did their work on day one – England came out swinging and nine wickets fell. In the end, with Joe Root unbeaten on 82 from 54 balls at the other end, Bashir was tasked with hitting the final ball of the match for the six but the No 11 could only slice a single.
