San Francisco Unicorns and New Zealand will be poorer for the absence of Finn Allen for the near future after the dashing opening batter sustained a foot injury in his franchise's final league stage match in the ongoing Major League Cricket (MLC) against the LA Knight Riders. Allen, who smashed records for fun with a 51-ball 150 in the opening game of the tournament, was one of the reasons why the Unicorns made it to the playoffs yet again and his injury will also force a change in strategies for New Zealand ahead of the Zimbabwe tri-series, also featuring South Africa.
"Allen’s recovery timeline will be determined once he has returned to New Zealand and received further specialist consultations," an NZC statement read. "A replacement player will be named in due course."
New Zealand are likely to push someone like Rachin Ravindra up to the top alongside Tim Seifert with Mark Chapman likely to get a seat in the middle. For the Unicorns, Seifert is likely to slot in at the top alongside skipper Matt Short as they take the field on Wednesday evening in Dallas in the eliminator against the MI New York, without Allen, Haris Rauf and Romario Shepherd with injury spreading into their camp like malaria.
New Zealand are set to arrive in Harare on July 10 before they begin their preparations to face Zimbabwe and South Africa twice each and then hopefully one of them in the final. The series kicks off on July 14 with New Zealand set to play on July 16 in their first game against the Proteas.
New Zealand squad for Zimbabwe tri-series: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi
