Hamilton Masakadza ruled out of 2nd Test against New Zealand

Masakadza ruled out of 2nd Test against New Zealand

Zimbabwe‘s veteran batsman Hamilton Masakadza on Friday was ruled out, with back injury, of the second and final Test against visitors New Zealand, to be held at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Saturday. Most of the players in the team had suffered either smoe kind of illness, or injury. However, most of them have recovered on time, barring Masakadza. Sean Williams, on the other hand is still having mild coughs, but is fit enough to play, while Tino Mawoyo, who suffered a thumb injury prior to the opening Test at Harare, too seems quite fit. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Zimbabwe vs New Zealand, 2nd Test match

Masakadza has so far played 30 Tests for Zimbabwe, but will not be available at the No. 3 spot on Saturday, and instead, either of Sikandar Raza or Craig Ervine is most likely to take his place, while Prince Masvaure and Peter Moor too are likely to bat in the middle-order to give a significant boost to their batting line-up, reports espncricinfo. ZIM vs NZ 2016, 2nd Test, Preview and Predictions

Masakadza would be missing a Test match for the first time in five years, since Zimbabwe made a Test come back, back in 2011 against Bangaldesh. Since then, Zimababwe has played 15 Tests, while Masakadza has managed to score three tons, while his highest score is 158. In the ongoing series against New Zealand, Masakadza managed to score just 15 and 4 in the opening Test and was literally disappointed by the manner of his dismissal in the first-innings, as he handed a return catch to Mitchell Santner, which haunted him for the rest of the match.