Devon Conway breaks hand in frustration, ruled out of 20-20 World Cup final

New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter Devon Conway has been ruled out of the 20-20 World Cup due to a broken hand. The southpaw suffered this untimely injury on his hand during the semifinal against England. The southpaw was gutted after being dismissed and struck his hand in frustration, breaking it in the process.

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Conway has been a pivotal member of the New Zealand team since making his debut in 2020. During the 20-20 World Cup, his vital contributions at number five have helped the team post challenging scores. In the semifinal against England, he played the sheet anchor role to perfection. He can also switch gears and take the attack to the opposition.

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead revealed that Conway is devastated after the development. “He’s absolutely gutted to be ruled out like this at this time. Devon is hugely passionate about playing for the BLACKCAPS and no one is more disappointed at the moment than he is – so we’re really trying to rally around him,” Stead said in a video posted on New Zealand Cricket’s official Twitter page.

“It looked a pretty innocuous reactionary incident on the field, but the blow obviously caught the bat between the glove padding, and while it’s not the smartest thing he’s done there’s certainly an element of bad luck in the injury,” he added.

New Zealand have a backup wicketkeeper-batter in Tim Seifert and in all probability will play the final against Australia on Sunday (November 14). Seifert has played 36 T20Is, scoring 703 runs at a strike rate of 132.64 and an average of 24.24.

Meanwhile, Conway has also been ruled out of the upcoming T20I series against India. New Zealand won't be able to name a replacement for the southpaw owing to COVID-19 guidelines. “Due to the timelines we won’t be bringing in a replacement player for this World Cup or next week’s T20 series against India, but are working through our options for the Test series later this month,” said Stead.