Three members of New Zealand’s touring group have tested positive for Covid-19 in Brighton: fast bowler Blair Tickner, batsman Henry Nicholls, and bowling coach Shane Jurgensen. After generating positive Rapid Antigen Tests on Friday morning, all three have begun a five-day hotel room isolation. Here in this article, we have talked about New Zealand players who tested positive just before ENG vs NZ 2022.
All other members of the New Zealand team tested negative, and their four-day warm-up match against Sussex was scheduled for May 20 to 23, ENG vs NZ 2022. will go ahead as planned, according to a press statement from NZC.
NEWS | Henry Nicholls, Blair Tickner and Shane Jurgensen have begun 5 days of hotel room isolation after testing positive for Covid-19.
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) May 20, 2022
The remainder of the tour party have returned negative results and today's 4-day Tour match will go ahead as planned.https://t.co/rj2YwSuLsA
Nicholls, a left-handed middle-order batsman, has been an important member of New Zealand’s Test team, scoring eight hundred in 46 games at an average of 40.38. He would have been unable to participate in the tour game anyway, having suffered a grade one calf injury while doing exercises at a pre-tour camp in Mount Maunganui earlier this month. Despite the fact that scans revealed no tear, Nicholls is expected to miss both of New Zealand’s warm-up games and faces a race to be healthy for the first Test on June 2 at Lord’s.
Tickner has yet to play in a Test match but has played in two ODIs and eight T20Is, most recently in an ODI series against the Netherlands at home.
Jurgensen, a former Queensland fast bowler, has been the bowling coach for New Zealand since 2016, and his current contract runs until the end of 2022. He previously worked with New Zealand between 2008 and 2010, and this is his second term as the national team’s bowling coach.
After the game against Sussex, New Zealand will play one more warm-up game on May 26 against FCC XI. The three-match Test series kicks out on June 2, with the second Test taking place in Nottingham on June 10 and the third at Headingley on June 23.
