{"id":462298,"date":"2026-02-06T13:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T13:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/462298\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T13:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T13:05:09","slug":"cricket-sickness-hits-black-caps-in-lead-up-to-t20-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/462298\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket: Sickness hits Black Caps in lead-up to T20 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Ian Ransom, Reuters<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JXOGYR_251119NZLvWIndiesODI_2_120_JPG.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" alt=\"Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway of New Zealand.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nRachin Ravindra and Devon Conway of New Zealand.<br \/>\nPhoto: Kerry Marshall \/ www.photosport.nz\n<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand batters Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway have been struck down with illness ahead of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/sport\/585313\/t20-world-cup-2026-everything-you-need-to-know\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">T20 World Cup<\/a> but head coach Rob Walter is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/sport\/585880\/black-caps-have-full-squad-to-pick-from-as-t20-world-cup-approaches\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hopeful of a clean bill of health<\/a> before their tournament gets underway.<\/p>\n<p>Walter said the duo would miss a warmup match against the United States in Mumbai, while top-order batter Finn Allen will also rest as he recovers from a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a bit of illness in the camp unfortunately at the moment so Devon and Rachin are struggling with a viral infection which I suppose is part and parcel of touring,&#8221; Walter told reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Rachin&#8217;s next door to me and it hasn&#8217;t sounded good all night, so I think he might be struggling.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand launch their bid for a maiden T20 World Cup title against Afghanistan in Chennai on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>All-rounder Michael Bracewell missed the recent 4-1 loss to India in the T20 warmup series with a calf injury but Walter expects him to be fit for Afghanistan, along with Allen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everyone&#8217;s sort of on track at this stage to be fit and healthy for game one, which is good news,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand have struggled to build momentum since arriving in the subcontinent, with Jimmy Neesham falling ill and paceman Lockie Ferguson coming back from injury.<\/p>\n<p>While New Zealand lost the final T20 against India this week, Ferguson&#8217;s two-wicket spell was a bright spot for Walter, with the fast bowler expected to take a leading role in the absence of Adam Milne.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He has worked incredibly hard to get himself ready for the World Cup,&#8221; said Walter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He said he was going to ease into it, but he was bowling 145 (kph). So if that&#8217;s him easing in, I&#8217;m looking forward to seeing what&#8217;s to come.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ian Ransom, Reuters Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway of New Zealand. Photo: Kerry Marshall \/ www.photosport.nz New&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,1590,63,740,1589,44,1591,1588,1586,1587,85],"class_list":["post-462298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-audio","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-current-affairs","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}