Blair Tickner will miss the third and final Test against England after taking a nasty blow to the helmet from a rising Jofra Archer delivery late on the second afternoon at Trent Bridge. The right-arm seamer, batting at No. 10, was struck flush by only the third ball he faced. New Zealand’s medical staff ran the standard checks straight away; he looked fine at first, bowled three wicketless overs for 21, but the symptoms crept up during the tea break, nausea in particular, and he did not come back out.
Mid-evening New Zealand confirmed the inevitable. “Blair Tickner has been ruled out of the remainder of the third Test against England at Trent Bridge with concussion after being struck on the helmet while batting in the first innings,” the team statement read. “Zak Foulkes has been named as Tickner’s replacement.”
Because the injury falls under the ICC’s concussion-sub rule, Foulkes is cleared to bat, bowl and field without restriction. He debuted in Zimbabwe last winter and, more recently, picked up two wickets in the win over Ireland, so the surroundings will not feel totally new. With three first-class fifties to his name he probably adds a little more with the bat than Tickner, yet match referee Andy Pycroft still signed him off as a like-for-like.
It is another hassle New Zealand could have done without. Matt Henry (calf), Glenn Phillips (side) and Kyle Jamieson (workload after a long back lay-off) were already unavailable, and the side had earlier coughed up 10 for 121 after that mammoth 317-run opening stand from Tom Latham and Devon Conway. Hardly terminal, but far from ideal when the series is poised at one-all.
England, meanwhile, will keep one eye on Archer’s overs after a long injury lay-off of his own, though the hosts looked content enough as the shadows lengthened on day two.
